KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — It is a heart-breaking decision for national number two mixed pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai to pull out from the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) which starts next week.
But Shevon was adamant that her partner, Soon Huat’s health was more important and hoped he would be fit for their main goal, playing in the New Zealand Open, the first tournament which offered the Olympic qualifying points.
Soon Huat-Shevon were forced to withdraw from the BAC, after he picked up a left hamstring injury.
“Of course, as a player, it was a bit disappointing at first but the most important thing is that he (Soon Huat) recovers because the New Zealand Open is the first Olympic qualifying event. So, I think that is the most important period for us.
“And for now, it is more important for him to get well,” Shevon said in a video posted in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Instagram account, @ba_malaysia, today.
Soon Huat and Shevon also withdrew from the second round of the Malaysian Open when Soon Huat felt unwell in the morning match while their performance was also affected in the Singapore Open last week as they failed to defend their title and were knocked out in the second round.
“We are out of several tournaments. Try not to put much pressure and expectation on us yet in the New Zealand Open because I think we still need to get back into the competition rhythm and the feel of the competition.
“So New Zealand will be a good start for us both to get back into the feel (of the competition) and to continue for the next few bigger tournaments to come,” she added.
The world ranked 13th pair was drawn with Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta-Tan Wei Han in the first round and slated to go up against one of two South Korean pairs in Choi Sol-gyu-Kim So-yeong or Park Kyung-hoon-Kim Hye-rin in the second round in the New Zealand Open on April 30 to May 5. — Bernama
