Tan Boon Heong (Chinese: 陈文宏; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Bûn-hông, born 18 September 1987) is a former World No.1 Malaysian professional badminton player in the men's doubles event.[2]

Tan Boon Heong
陈文宏
Personal information
CountryMalaysia
Born (1987-09-18) 18 September 1987 (age 36)
Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia
ResidenceKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight75 kg (165 lb; 11.8 st)[1]
Years active2004 – present
HandednessLeft[1]
CoachRexy Mainaky
Lee Wan Wah
Men's doubles
Highest ranking1 (11 October 2007)
Current ranking77 (18 September 2021)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing  Malaysia
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2010 Paris Men's doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Hyderabad Men's doubles
Sudirman Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Guangzhou Mixed team
Thomas Cup
Silver medal – second place 2014 New Delhi Men's team
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Sendai & Tokyo Men's team
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Jakarta Men's team
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Kuala Lumpur Men's team
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Kunshan Men's team
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi Men's doubles
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi Mixed team
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Doha Men's doubles
Silver medal – second place 2010 Guangzhou Men's doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Doha Men's team
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Incheon Men's team
Asian Championships
Silver medal – second place 2006 Johor Bahru Men's doubles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Johor Bahru Men's doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Johor Bahru Men's doubles
Southeast Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2009 Vientiane Men's doubles
Silver medal – second place 2009 Vientiane Men's team
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2004 Richmond Boys' doubles
Commonwealth Youth Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Bendigo Mixed team
Asian Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Hwacheon Boys' team
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Jakarta Boys' team
BWF profile
Tan Boon Heong
Traditional Chinese陳文宏
Simplified Chinese陈文宏

Career edit

2004-2006 edit

Tan was previously paired with Hoon Thien How, with whom he won the World Junior Championships in 2004 and a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Badminton Championships.

2006 edit

Nearing the Doha Asian Games in 2006, Rexy Mainaky (the Malaysian doubles coach) decided to split them up and partner Tan Boon Heong with Koo Kien Keat instead.[2] This move, nevertheless, proved to be spot-on as this pair went on to become the Asian Games champion, winning the gold medal in their maiden outing by defeating the then Chinese world champions, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, in the quarterfinals, Indonesia's Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan in the semifinals, and finally Luluk Hadiyanto and Alvent Yulianto, also from Indonesia, in the finals. They are the youngest men's doubles to win gold medal at Asian Games at the age of 21 and 19 respectively.

2007 edit

2007 was the best year for Koo and Tan. They became the first qualifiers to win the Superseries at the Malaysian Open.[3] They also became the World No.1 that year. They won their first All England Open after beating Chinese pair, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng in straight games.

2008 edit

They competed at the 2008 Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals.

2009 edit

At the Japan Open, Tan set the world record for badminton smashes at 421 km/h. This was done under lab conditions and recorded by Yonex representatives, and not in an official match.[4] Later, he and Koo Kien Keat won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships.

2010 edit

At the 2010 BWF World Championships, Tan and partner Koo Kien Keat launched themselves into the semifinals after beating Korean rivals Lee Yong-dae and Jung Jae-sung. In the semifinals they defeated China's Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen 21–14, 21–18. Tan Boon Heong and Koo Kien Keat were the first Malaysian pair to enter a World Championships final in 13 years. In the finals, they played China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng and lost 21–18, 18–21, 14–21. The year 2010 was the last time Koo and Tan ranked World No. 1.

2011 edit

At the 2011 All England Open, Tan and Koo defeated 2008 Olympic champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan in the quarterfinals. They then defeated World champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng 21–11, 23–21. They lost to Danes and world no.1 Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 21–15, 18–21, 18–21. In doing so, they failed to win their second All England Open title.

2012 edit

Tan competed at the 2012 Olympics with Koo Kien Keat, reaching the semi-finals, and losing 0–2 in the bronze medal match to the Koreans.[1]

2013 edit

Tan and Koo suffered a lot of early round exits in 2013 and a three-year major title drought but they managed to remain in the top 5 of the world ranking.

2014 edit

As of March 2014, following the resignation of his partner, Koo Kien Keat,[5] which was due to their deteriorating performance, Tan was scratch partnered with several men's doubles players including Goh V Shem, Ow Yao Han, Hoon Thien How and Tan Wee Kiong. Following the tournament, Tan has been officially re-partnered with Hoon Thien How. In August that year, Koo returned to play his last tournament with Tan at the 2014 BWF World Championships. Their last match together was in the third round where they lost to a Chinese Taipei pair with a score of 19–21 in the deciding game.

2015 edit

In early 2015, Tan announced his resignation from the Badminton Association of Malaysia. Koo and Tan announced that they are coming out of retirement and try to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics before they call it quits for good. They are currently sponsored by Seri Mutiara Development Sdn Bhd. They have achieved some breakthroughs this year. Winning the Dutch Open and runners-up in the Thailand Open. They have also made it to 2 Superseries quarterfinals in Australia and Korea.

2016 edit

In 2016, Koo and Tan managed to enter the top 15 of the world rankings. However, due to the new Olympic qualification requirement set by the BWF whereby each country can send two representatives for each event only if they are both in the top 8 of the world rankings in their discipline and if they are not then only the highest ranked representative will contest, Koo and Tan narrowly failed to qualify for the Olympics.

2017 edit

Tan and Hendra Setiawan debut tournament at the 2017 Syed Modi International, they managed to advance until the quarter-finals. They reached the final round at the Australian Open but were beaten by third seed Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda from Japan.

2018 edit

Tan was partner with Yoo Yeon Seong from South Korea. Subsequently, he was partner with Kim Sa Rang and they play together in men's doubles in 18/19 Purple League.

2019 edit

Tan was also currently training with Goh V Shem, Tan Wee Kiong, Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng Soon after their resignation from Badminton Association of Malaysia.

Personal life edit

Tan Boon Heong is married to beautician Sherlyn Tan Yean Ling since 2016.[6][7]

Achievements edit

BWF World Championships edit

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
2009 Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad, India   Koo Kien Keat   Jung Jae-sung
  Lee Yong-dae
21–16, 14–21, 20–22   Bronze
2010 Stade Pierre de Coubertin, Paris, France   Koo Kien Keat   Cai Yun
  Fu Haifeng
21–18, 18–21, 14–21   Silver

Commonwealth Games edit

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
2010 Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi, India   Koo Kien Keat   Anthony Clark
  Nathan Robertson
21–19, 21–14   Gold

Asian Games edit

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
2006 Aspire Hall 3, Doha, Qatar   Koo Kien Keat   Luluk Hadiyanto
  Alvent Yulianto
21–13, 21–14   Gold
2010 Tianhe Gymnasium, Guangzhou, China   Koo Kien Keat   Markis Kido
  Hendra Setiawan
21–16, 24–26, 19–21   Silver

Asian Championships edit

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
2006 Bandaraya Stadium, Johor Bahru, Malaysia   Hoon Thien How   Choong Tan Fook
  Lee Wan Wah
21–17, 11–21, 12–21   Silver
2007 Bandaraya Stadium, Johor Bahru, Malaysia   Koo Kien Keat   Choong Tan Fook
  Lee Wan Wah
14–21, 21–11, 12–21   Silver
2008 Bandaraya Stadium, Johor Bahru, Malaysia   Koo Kien Keat   Jung Jae-sung
  Lee Yong-dae
21–16, 16–21, 18–21   Bronze

Southeast Asian Games edit

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
2009 Gym Hall 1, National Sports Complex, Vientiane, Laos   Koo Kien Keat   Markis Kido
  Hendra Setiawan
17–21, 17–21   Silver

World Junior Championships edit

Boys' doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
2004 Minoru Arena, Richmond, Canada]   Hoon Thien How   Lee Yong-dae
  Jung Jung-young
15–6, 3–15, 15–12   Gold

BWF Superseries (8 titles, 10 runners-up) edit

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007,[8] was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels were Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011.[9] Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.

Men's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2007 Malaysia Open   Koo Kien Keat   Tony Gunawan
  Candra Wijaya
21–15, 21–18   Winner
2007 All England Open   Koo Kien Keat   Cai Yun
  Fu Haifeng
21–15, 21–18   Winner
2007 Swiss Open   Koo Kien Keat   Jens Eriksen
  Martin Lundgaard Hansen
17–21, 21–16, 21–12   Winner
2007 Denmark Open   Koo Kien Keat   Jens Eriksen
  Martin Lundgaard Hansen
14–21, 21–14, 21–12   Winner
2008 World Superseries Masters Finals   Koo Kien Keat   Jung Jae-sung
  Lee Yong-dae
21–18, 21–14   Winner
2009 Swiss Open   Koo Kien Keat   Mathias Boe
  Carsten Mogensen
21–14, 21–18   Winner
2009 Denmark Open   Koo Kien Keat   Mathias Boe
  Carsten Mogensen
20–22, 21–14, 21–17   Winner
2009 French Open   Koo Kien Keat   Markis Kido
  Hendra Setiawan
21–15, 15–21, 14–21   Runner-up
2009 China Open   Koo Kien Keat   Jung Jae-sung
  Lee Yong-dae
13–21, 21–19, 18–21   Runner-up
2010 Malaysia Open   Koo Kien Keat   Guo Zhendong
  Xu Chen
21–15, 17–21, 21–16   Winner
2010 Swiss Open   Koo Kien Keat   Ko Sung-hyun
  Yoo Yeon-seong
18–21, 16–21   Runner-up
2010 Japan Open   Koo Kien Keat   Cai Yun
  Fu Haifeng
21–18, 14–21, 12–21   Runner-up
2011 All England Open   Koo Kien Keat   Mathias Boe
  Carsten Mogensen
21–15, 18–21, 18–21   Runner-up
2012 Japan Open   Koo Kien Keat   Kim Gi-jung
  Kim Sa-rang
16–21, 19–21   Runner-up
2012 Denmark Open   Koo Kien Keat   Shin Baek-cheol
  Yoo Yeon-seong
21–19, 11–21, 19–21   Runner-up
2012 Hong Kong Open   Koo Kien Keat   Cai Yun
  Fu Haifeng
16–21, 17–21   Runner-up
2013 French Open   Koo Kien Keat   Marcus Fernaldi Gideon
  Markis Kido
16–21, 18–21   Runner-up
2017 Australian Open   Hendra Setiawan   Takeshi Kamura
  Keigo Sonoda
17–21, 19–21   Runner-up
  BWF Superseries Finals tournament
  BWF Superseries Premier tournament
  BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix (8 titles, 5 runners-up) edit

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.

Men's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2006 Japan Open   Koo Kien Keat   Tony Gunawan
  Candra Wijaya
15–21, 14–21   Runner-up
2007 Philippines Open   Koo Kien Keat   Guo Zhendong
  Xie Zhongbo
21–8, 26–24   Winner
2007 Macau Open   Koo Kien Keat   Choong Tan Fook
  Lee Wan Wah
21–18, 17–21, 23–21   Winner
2008 Macau Open   Koo Kien Keat   Fang Chieh-min
  Lee Sheng-mu
21–16, 21–18   Winner
2009 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold   Koo Kien Keat   Gan Teik Chai
  Tan Bin Shen
21–11, 21–13   Winner
2009 Macau Open   Koo Kien Keat   Choong Tan Fook
  Lee Wan Wah
21–14, 17–21, 21–12   Winner
2011 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold   Koo Kien Keat   Hendra Aprida Gunawan
  Alvent Yulianto
21–16, 21–7   Winner
2012 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold   Koo Kien Keat   Chooi Kah Ming
  Ow Yao Han
21–15, 21–19   Winner
2013 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold   Koo Kien Keat   Goh V Shem
  Lim Khim Wah
20–22, 15–21   Runner-up
2015 Thailand Open   Koo Kien Keat   Wahyu Nayaka
  Ade Yusuf
22–20, 21–23, 16–21   Runner-up
2015 Dutch Open   Koo Kien Keat   Manu Attri
  B. Sumeeth Reddy
21–15, 21–10   Winner
2016 Malaysia Masters   Koo Kien Keat   Marcus Fernaldi Gideon
  Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
21–18, 13–21, 18–21   Runner-up
2016 Vietnam Open   Koo Kien Keat   Lee Jhe-huei
  Lee Yang
21–18, 14–21, 7–21   Runner-up
  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
  BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (4 titles, 2 runners-up) edit

Men's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2015 Sri Lanka International   Koo Kien Keat   Chooi Kah Ming
  Ow Yao Han
21–19, 21–17   Winner
2015 White Nights   Koo Kien Keat   Marcus Ellis
  Chris Langridge
21–10, 21–12   Winner
2015 Swiss International   Koo Kien Keat   Peter Briggs
  Tom Wolfenden
18–21, 21–16, 21–16   Winner
2019 Perth International   Shia Chun Kang   Lee Chia-hao
  Liu Wei-chi
21–17, 21–16   Winner
2019 South Australia International   Shia Chun Kang   Kim Duk-young
  Kim Sa-rang
14–21, 21–17, 16–21   Runner-up
2019 Dubai International   Shia Chun Kang   Keiichiro Matsui
  Yoshinori Takeuchi
14–21, 14–21   Runner-up
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament
  BWF Future Series tournament

Record against selected opponents edit

Men's doubles results with Koo Kien Keat against Superseries finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists, plus all Olympic opponents.[10]

Filmography edit

  • Sepahtu Reunion Live

Year:2022 Role:himself Channel:Astro Warna

Program

  • Maharaja Lawak Mega

Year:2022 Role:Guest Pair:Boro

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "Boon Heong Tan". www.london2012.com. London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b Sukumar, Dev (1 July 2020). "Genius in Action: Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Kien Keat-Boon Heong on course for world domination". The Star. 22 January 2007. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011.
  4. ^ Phelan, Mark. "Badminton in Guinness Book of World Records". Badzine.net.
  5. ^ Liew, Vincent (28 August 2014). "Koo Kien Keat says farewell in rubber game loss". www.badmintonplanet.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  6. ^ ALI, INTAN AMALINA MOHD. "Badminton ace Boon Heong finally meets his match". The Star. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  7. ^ Liew, Vincent (25 October 2016). "Tan Boon Heong is married! Ties the knot with girlfriend of 10 years". BadmintonPlanet.com. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  8. ^ "BWF Launches Super Series". Badminton Australia. 15 December 2006. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007.
  9. ^ "Yonex All England Elevated To BWF Premier Super Series Event". IBadmintonstore. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  10. ^ "tournamentsoftware.com". tournamentsoftware.com.

External links edit