Koo Kien Keat

Jayce September 6, 2024 2 0

Character Introduction

Koo Kien Keat (September 18, 1985) is a Malaysian male badminton player. Born in Ipoh, Perak, he specializes in men’s doubles and mixed doubles. His doubles team with Tan Boon Hong is known as the Diamond Team.

Koo is a Malaysian doubles player who began his career with the national team in 2002 when he won the Asian Junior Badminton Championships.In 2004, Koo teamed up with Malaysian veteran Tan Chong Meng to play in the 2004 Thomas Cup. Although Malaysia failed to make it to the finals, Koo’s skills were amazing.

In 2005, Koo and Tan participated in the 14th World Badminton Championships 2005, but failed to qualify for the finals, they finished third, and in 2006, they won the Swiss Open, Commonwealth Games Men’s Doubles Gold Medal, and the Malaysian Badminton Open. Before the start of the 15th World Badminton Championships in 2006, Chen Chongming’s father died and they neglected to practice and lost again.Before the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, doubles player Chen Chongming still could not get over the death of his father, which attracted the attention of the national team’s badminton doubles coach, Rexy Mynaki, who decided to split the two of them up and pair them up instead with Chen Wenhong and Koo Kin Jie, with Chen Chongming and Chen Wenhong’s old partner Yun Tianhao partner.

The 2006 Doha Asian Games opened with the new duo of Koo Chan giving Malaysians hope as they beat the best of the best from various countries (Chinese Men’s Doubles Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng, Indonesian Men’s Doubles pair Marquise Kido/Hendra Setiawan) in succession, and eventually beat the Indonesian Men’s Doubles to win back Malaysia’s first Asian Games Men’s Doubles Gold Medal in 32 years.

The year 2007 was one of the most rewarding years for Koo Chan as they won the Malaysia Open, All England Open, Swiss Open, Malaysian National Badminton Championships, Philippine Open, Macau Grand Prix and Denmark Open, and moved up to fourth place in the world rankings. Their successive victories led the then Malaysian national team doubles coach, Mr. Meinaki, to describe them as “a team that shines like a diamond”, and the name “Diamonds” eventually caught on and is still used today.

In 2009, they only won the Swiss Open and the Macau Grand Prix, and in 2010, they won gold medals at the Malaysian Open and the Commonwealth Games, and in August of the same year, they competed in the 18th World Badminton Championships, where they defeated the South Korean duo of Lee Yong Dae/Jung Jae Sung and the Chinese duo of Guo Zhen Dong/Xu Chen, but in the finals, they lost to the Chinese duo of Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng, who finished second. In November, they competed in the Men’s Doubles at the Guangzhou Asian Games, losing in the final to Indonesian pair Hendra Setiawan/Markis Kido, and failing to win the Asian Games Men’s Doubles gold medal.

In February 2011, Koo Chan also lost in the semi-finals of the German Badminton Grand Prix to the Korean duo. 2011 All England Championships, Koo Chan started to improve and made it all the way to the finals, losing to the Danish duo in the final, which was their best result in 2011, though they lost, and in May of the same year, Koo Chan competed in the Malaysia Badminton Grand Prix, and finally made it to the finals once again, defeating Indonesian duo Muhammad Ahsan and Alwent Yulianto Chandra. They broke a seven-month title drought, their last title at the Commonwealth Games, also taking their first title of the season.

In April 2015, Koo and Chan Boon Hong signed a RM2 million sponsorship deal with a private developer, setting their sights on a comeback and a bid to reach the Rio Olympics next year. Koo and Chan reached the last 8 of the 2015 Australian Badminton Super Series in their first match after their comeback. In the following weeks, they won the men’s doubles title at the Sri Lanka International Challenge, their first title since becoming professionals and their first since the 2012 Malaysia Gold. In September of the same year, they reached the final of the Thailand Badminton Golden Grand Prix, but lost in the end to the Indonesian duo of Wahyu Nayaka Aya Bungkayanira and Adi Yusuf.

On November 6, 2016, Koo said after the Hong Kong Badminton Superseries that he had decided to retire from business because he had lost his bid to qualify for the Rio Olympics with Chan Boon Hong, and because Chan Boon Hong would be playing in international tournaments with a new partner. In December of the same year, Chen Wenhong announced that he would partner Indonesia’s former Olympic doubles champion Hendra Setiawan in international tournaments from 2017 onwards.

Equipment Used

NANORAY Z SPEED; NANOSPEED 9900; VOLTRIC Z-FORCE LTD; VOLTRIC 80; SHBCFZMEX; VOLTRIC Z-FORCE; VOLTRIC 80 ETN; Ti 10; ARCSABER 8DX

Major Achievements

2016 Vietnam Badminton Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2016 Thomas Cup Men’s Team 3rd Runner-up
2016 Switzerland Badminton Golden Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2016 Malaysia Badminton Masters Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2015 Swiss Badminton International Men’s Doubles Champion
2015 Netherlands Badminton Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Champion
2015 Thailand Badminton Golden Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2015 Sri Lanka Badminton International Challenge Men’s Doubles Champion
2013 France Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2013 Malaysia Badminton Golden Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2012 London Olympic Games Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2012 Hong Kong Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2012 China Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2012 Denmark Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2012 Japan Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2012 Indonesia Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2011 Japan Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2011 Malaysia Badminton Golden Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Champion
2011 Badminton India Superseries Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2011 All England Badminton Championships Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2011 Korea Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2010 Guangzhou Asian Games Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2010 World Badminton Championships Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2010 Japan Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2010 Commonwealth Games Badminton Men’s Doubles Gold Medal
2010 Commonwealth Games Badminton Mixed Team Gold Medal
2010 Malaysia Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Champion
2010 Thomas Cup Men’s Team Bronze Medal
2009 Macau Badminton Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Champion
2009 China Badminton Masters Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2009 France Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2009 Denmark Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Champion
2009 World Badminton Championships Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2009 Indonesia Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2009 Swiss Badminton Superseries Men’s Doubles Champion
2009 Sudirman Cup Mixed Team Bronze Medal
2008 Badminton World Super Series Finals Men’s Doubles Champion
2008 Macau Badminton Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Champion
2008 China Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals2008 France Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2008 Thomas Cup Men’s Team Bronze Medal
2007 Denmark Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Champion
2007 Macau Badminton Grand Prix Men’s Doubles Champion
2007 Philippine Open Men’s Doubles Champion
2007 Indonesia Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2007 Badminton Asia Championships Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2007 Swiss Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Champion
2007 All England Badminton Men’s Doubles Champion
2007 Korea Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2007 Malaysia Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Champion
2007 Malaysia Badminton Championships Mixed Doubles Champion
2006 Doha Asian Games Badminton Men’s Doubles Champion
2006 Doha Asian Games Badminton Men’s Team Bronze Medal
2006 Japan Badminton Super Tournament Men’s Doubles Runner-up
2006 Chinese Taipei Badminton Open Men’s Doubles Quarter-finalist
2006 Malaysia Open Badminton Men’s Doubles Champion
2006 Commonwealth Games Badminton Men’s Doubles Champion
2006 Commonwealth Games Badminton Mixed Doubles Quarter-finals
2006 Swiss Super Badminton Championships Men’s Doubles Champion
2006 World Badminton Championships Mixed Doubles 3rd Runner-up
2006 Thomas Cup Men’s Team Bronze Medal
2005 Denmark Open Mixed Doubles Quarter-finals
2005 Denmark Open Men’s Doubles Champion
2005 World Badminton Championships Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2005 Germany Badminton Open Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2005 Hong Kong Open Mixed Doubles Quarter-finals
2005 Southeast Asian Games Badminton Mixed Doubles Quarter-finals
2004 Indonesia Open Mixed Doubles Quarter-finals
2004 Chinese Taipei Badminton Open Mixed Doubles Champion
2004 Chinese Taipei Open Men’s Doubles Champion
2004 Singapore Open Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals
2004 Singapore Open Mixed Doubles Runner-up
2004 France Open Men’s Doubles Champion
2003 Malaysia Badminton Satellite Tournament Men’s Doubles Champion
2002 Asian Junior Badminton Championships Men’s Doubles Champion
2002 World Junior Badminton Championships Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals