PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani face a fight to maintain their world No. 1 ranking.

In the latest rankings list updated yesterday, as expected, Sze Fei-Izzuddin officially overtook Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen to reach the coveted top spot for the first time in their careers after the latter failed to defend their Malaysian Masters title.

The gap between No. 1 and No. 2 though is very close with the independent pair having 91,090 points while the Danish duo have 90,411 points.

The narrow gap means Sze Fei-Izzuddin have no margin for error and need to perform well in the back-to-back Singapore Open and Indonesian Open or risk dropping to No. 2.

The Malaysians will be out to raise their game after struggling for form since capturing the Indian Open title in January.

Sze Fei-Izzuddin suffered early round exits in the All-England and Swiss Open in March before improving slightly to progress to the quarter-finals in the Asian Championships last month and Malaysian Masters last week.

The duo’s form lately is a far cry from the high standards they reached last year where they captured the China Open, Japan Open and Arctic Open titles and finished runners-up in the World Tour Finals and Asian meet.

This year, Sze Fei-Izzuddin have been overshadowed by fellow Malaysians Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun.

World No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were overtaken as the national No. 1 by Sze Fei-Izzuddin at the end of last year, have responded brilliantly by winning the Asian title and the Thailand Open earlier this month.

World No. 7 Wei Chong-Kai Wun have also showed their capabilities by claiming the Indonesian Masters and Malaysian Masters crowns.

Now, it’s Sze Fei-Izzuddin’s turn to rise to the challenge and keep hold of the No. 1 spot.

The pair are the first Malaysians in the men’s doubles to reach the top spot since Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong achieved the feat in 2016.

In the Singapore Open, Sze Fei-Izzuddin will open their campaign today against Taiwan’s world No. 20 Lee Fang-chih-Lee Fang-jen.

Meanwhile, Aaron-Wooi Yik, who finished runners-up to Wei Chong-Kai Wun in the Malaysian tourney, have a tricky opening task against Denmark’s world No. 16 Rasmus Kjaer-Frederk Sogaard.

Wei Chong-Kai Wun will play Taiwan’s world No. 27 Chen Zhi-ray-Lin Yu-chieh for a place in the second round.

The other Malaysian men’s doubles pairs in the fray are Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi.

In the men’s singles, world No. 25 Leong Jun Hao, who is the country’s sole representative, will face China’s world No. 27 Lei Lanxi in the first round.

In the women’s doubles, world No. 4 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah will be looking to get off to a winning start against Hong Kong’s world No. 32 Lui Lok Lok-Tsang Hiu Yan.