KUALA LUMPUR: Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong have attributed their recent run in form to their former coach Paulus Firman.
The Malaysian men's doubles duo, who quit the national team recently, on Thursday reached the quarter-finals of Malaysia Masters after scoring their maiden win over former world champions Muhammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in the second round at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
Having lost in all four previous meetings, the 2016 Rio Olympic Games silver medallists, fresh from their recent success at the Thailand Masters last week, fought tooth and nail to carve out a 21-19, 24-22 win over the Indonesians in 31 minutes.
"We cannot take full credit for our recent success because we only left BAM last month.
"Our former coach Paulus Firman guided us a lot and we owe it to him. Of course, we are also thankful to Lee Wan Wah and Chew Choon Eng for assisting us in this tournament.
"The victory over Ahsan-Hendra means a lot to us because after all this time we finally got the better of them but it wasn't easy," said Wee Kiong.
The Malaysian pair, who have yet to secure any sponsorship deal since leaving the national body will face Japan's Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe next on Friday for a place in the last four.
"We have beaten them once but it will be another test tomorrow. Surely we want to reach the final again but we will have to see tomorrow (Friday)," added V Shem.
Meanwhile, in the final match of the day, national No 2 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi were made to work hard by Denmark's David Daugaard-Frederik Søgaard before chalking up a 21-13, 14-21, 21-10 win.
The Malaysians will take on second seeds Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda of Japan in the quarter-finals.