CHOONG Tan Fook’s last appearance in the Olympics was in Athens 16 years ago as a player and he is set to go to the Greatest Show on Earth gain but in a different capacity.
Tan Fook, who partnered Wan Wah in men’s doubles at the 2004 Olympics, has been Hong Kong’s doubles chief coach for the last six years. His hard work has borne fruit in the form of mixed doubles Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet, the World No 10, who look good to book their ticket for Tokyo 2020.
Chun Man-Ying Suet have shown remarkable progress last year where they won three titles: the Korea and China Masters as well as the Taiwan Open.
However, Tan Fook remained modest about Chun Man-Ying Suet’s Olympic prospects.
“They still have a long way to go. There is another four months before the qualifying ends and anything can happen,” he said,
“They are only ranked World No 10. The top five pairs at the moment have secured their spots.
“Chun Man-Ying Suet have to fight it out against other rivals from Malaysia, Taiwan, England, South Korea and the Netherlands. Only 16 pairs qualify and it is not going to be easy.
“Malaysia’s second pair (Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie) are also playing well and they have a good chance for two pairs to qualify. All this will not make it easy for Chun Man-Ying Suet.”
The top five: China’s Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong and Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping, Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino, Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti – are all but through to Tokyo 2020. Eleven more spots are still available. Only a drastic drop of form or injury can prevent Chun Man-Ying Suet from qualifying.
Tan Fook, who is married to former Olympic women’s doubles gold medallist Zhang Jiewen with two children, has no plans yet to return to work in Malaysia.
With Jiewen now a badminton lecturer at a university in Guangzhou, Tan Fook has decided to stay put in Hong Kong and continue his passion for coaching.