Koo Kien Keat
| Koo Kien Keat | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 古健傑 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 古健杰 | ||||||||||
|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Gǔ Jiànjié |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | Kóo Kiān-kia̍t |
Koo Kien Keat (born 18 September 1985 in Ipoh, Perak) is a former Malaysian professional badminton player. He succeeded in both men's and mixed doubles but is best known for his partnership with Tan Boon Heong with whom, he reached a career high ranking of world number 1.
In 2013, after a series of early round exits, Koo announced his retirement to become a coach for the Granular Club of Thailand. He later came out of retirement in 2015 and reunited with Tan on a bid to qualify for their third Olympic outing. Although their comeback was considerably successful, Koo and Tan narrowly failed to qualify for Rio 2016. Koo later reannounced his retirement citing the 2016 Hong Kong Open as his last match.
He played in the 2004 Thomas Cup with Chew Choon Eng. They gave a strong performance during the second doubles match against Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian of Indonesia in the quarter finals.
However, after the tournament, the Badminton Association of Malaysia decided to partner him with Chan Chong Ming who previously partnered Choon Eng. Later, they won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships.
He started to play with Tan Boon Heong. Together, they won the gold medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games as an unseeded pair. En route to the finals, they defeated several top pairs including Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.They are the youngest ever men's doubles pair to win an Asian Games gold medal at the age of 22 and 19 respectively.
2007 was the best year for Koo and Tan. They won several Super Series tournaments and climbed to the top of world rankings. They also won their first All England Super Series title after beating Chinese pair, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng in straight games.
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