Tan Boon Heong (, born 18 September 1987) is a former World No.1 Malaysian professional badminton player in the men's doubles event.
Career
2004-2006 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 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. 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 2007 was the best year for Koo and Tan. They became the first qualifiers to win the Superseries at the Malaysian Open. 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 They competed at the 2008 Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals.
2009 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. Later, he and Koo Kien Keat won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships.
2010 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 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 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.
2013 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 As of March 2014, following the resignation of his partner, Koo Kien Keat, 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 Chinese Taipei pair Lee Sheng-mu and Tsai Chia-hsin with a score of 19–21 in the deciding game.
2015 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 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 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 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 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 Tan Boon Heong is married to beautician Sherlyn Tan Yean Ling since 2016.
Achievements
BWF World Championships 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 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 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 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 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 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) The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, 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. 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) 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) 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 Men's doubles results with Koo Kien Keat against Superseries finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists, plus all Olympic opponents.
Cai Yun & Fu Haifeng 3-14 Chai Biao & Guo Zhendong 1–0 Sun Junjie & Xu Chen 0–1 Cai Yun & Xu Chen 0–1 Liu Xiaolong & Qiu Zihan 6–1 Guo Zhendong & Xie Zhongbo 1–0 Chai Biao & Hong Wei 0–1 Guo Zhendong & Xu Chen 3–0 Fang Chieh-min & Lee Sheng-mu 1–1 Lee Sheng-mu & Tsai Chia-hsin 2–3 Lars Påske & Jonas Rasmussen 3–2 Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen 10–5 Jonas Rasmussen & Mads Conrad-Petersen 1–1 Jens Eriksen & Martin Lundgård Hansen 4–0 / Anthony Clark & Robert Blair 1–1 Anthony Clark & Nathan Robertson 2–1