KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — Women’s doubles head coach Chan Chong Ming wants his charges to keep up their momentum for better outcomes in future tournaments, after watching them making good progress during the three Asian leg tournaments in Bangkok.
He praised World Number 14 pair Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean for pulling off an upset agains top seeds Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia and advancing into the semifinals of the 2020 season finale, the BWF World Tour Finals.
However, they lost 14-21, 15-21 to World Number Four Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan of South Korea in the semifinals yesterday.
Chong Ming, a two-time World Championship bronze medallist, is also happy with the budding pair of Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, who eliminated World Number Nine Chang Ye Na-Kim Hye Rin of South Korea to enter the Toyota Thailand Open quarterfinals, last week.
“I think this was a very good breakthrough for them and also a very good sign for the whole women’s doubles department. Moving forward, I would like to focus on specific individual training such as skill, strength and speed when we return from Thailand,” the former World Number One men’s doubles player said.
With a large number of events scheduled for February halted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Swiss Open from March 2-7, followed by the German Open (March 9-14) and the All England (March 17-21) could be the first few tournaments in the 2021 season.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, the country’s other semifinalists in the World Tour Finals, are also looking forward to improve their game in the upcoming tournaments.
“I wanted to improve in terms of psychology and the emotional part as well as reduce mistakes and unforced errors. I need to control myself to maintain my consistency in court, that is my biggest problem and obstacle that I face regularly,” said Shevon.
Sharing his experience in competing under strict standard operating procedures and lengthy lockdowns under the new norm in Bangkok amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Soon Huat said one must be mentally strong to achieve the desired results on court.
“Based on the experience here, one needs mental strength because of the many swab tests, that is three times a day. Not easy to stay mentally strong with the long lockdown here, so have to be patient and always stay positive to give a good performance on court,” he added.
The World Number 12 pair crashed out in the semifinals of the World Tour Finals with a 19-21, 8-21 defeat to World Number Six, Seo Seung Jae-Chae Yujung of South Korea. — Bernama
