Badminton Doubles shuttler Koo Kien Keat is one of the stylish players on the badminton court.

Therefore, it is not really a big surprise that he has ventured into a fashionable and stylish clothing industry besides being busy trying to win honours on the world badminton stage.

Kien Keat, who forms the world No. 1 ranked men’s doubles partnership with Tan Boon Heong, is an owner of an wide range contemporary online clothing company called Nuugo.

A good friend, June Chang, who has been in textile industry for the last six years is the co-owner. They launched the company last month and introduced their first collection at www.nuugo.com. Nuugo’s design houses are based in Malaysia and Japan.

“It makes one feel good when they are dressed well. I always love fashion and I went for it (to open a shop) when an opportunity arose to team up with my partner,” he said.

“Our collection is not the sports range but more on contemporary fashion for men and women.”

While excited about his new venture, the 25-year-old Kien Keat said badminton was still his first love and it would not take a back seat.

His immediate task with Boon Heong is to do well in the Malaysian Badminton Open Grand Prix Gold, which begins on Wednesday in Johor Baru, after the disappointments in two consecutive Super Series tournaments last month.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong lost to South Koreans Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong in the second round of the Singapore Open and they were eliminated by Japanese Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hiarat in the quarter-finals of the Indonesian Badminton Open.

Kien Keat said that they were determined to retain the second-tier home Badminton Open title and were looking forward to a final showdown against second seeds Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong are drawn in the same half with Indonesian badminton players Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan (third seeds), Malaysians Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen (sixth seeds) and Chan Peng Soon-Lim Khim Wah (seventh seeds) and the formidable Japanese Kawamae Naoki-Shoji Sato.

Many of the world’s top badminton players are giving the tournament a skip to concentrate on their preparation for the world badminton championships, which will be held in Paris from Aug 23-28.