KUALA LUMPUR: Men's doubles Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun are relishing the prospect of qualifying for their first World Tour Finals (WTF) and have vowed to fight hard to secure their spot in the prestigious season-ender in Hangzhou.
It would be a major breakthrough for Wei Chong and Kai Wun if they can maintain their ranking and join the seven other pairs set to qualify for the WTF on Dec 11-15 based on the World Tour rankings.
For the record, the World Tour rankings are separate from the BWF world rankings and cover five events.
Currently, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (76,960 points) are Malaysia's highest-ranked pair, sitting comfortably in third place and virtually assured of a place in Hangzhou.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun (65,740 points) are ranked seventh, while Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri (ninth with 57,900 points) and Paris Olympic bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (13th with 50,040 points) follow behind.
Reigning Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin of Taiwan will receive an invite to complete the line-up for the lucrative event.
The WTF, offering a total prize purse of US$2.5 million (RM10.76 million), awards US$210,000 (RM904,000) to the winners of the doubles events.
The competition will feature the top eight singles players and doubles pairs across the men's and women's events, as well as mixed doubles.
In their recent outings, Wei Chong-Kai Wun reached the quarter-finals at the Arctic Open and the second round of the Denmark Open.
Now, they are targeting at least semi-final appearances at the Kumamoto Masters (Nov 12-17) and China Masters (Nov 19-24) to secure their WTF berth.
"As it stands, we are seventh and in a position to qualify for the WTF. However, there are still more tournaments left, and we need to perform well," said Wei Chong.
"I believe we should qualify for Hangzhou if we reach the semi-finals at the Kumamoto Masters and China Masters.
"We have to be more consistent to achieve our objective.
"The WTF will be a great opportunity for us to measure ourselves against the top pairs, and qualifying would be a significant breakthrough for us. It's going to be tough, but we're ready to fight all the way."