Kuala Lumpur: Before Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai became the second Malaysia mixed doubles pair to reach at least the semi-finals of All England on March 9, 2019, no one expected them to go that far at the oldest badminton tournament in the world.
However, the All England semi-final achievement had given them a confidence boost that takes them through the upcoming Malaysia Open which will kick off at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur from April 2 to April 7.
Speaking to Malaysian media on Monday, Goh Soon Huat said that their strong performance at the recent All England tournament helped push their BWF ranking to the ninth place, and was also a confidence booster for them to strive for better results at the Malaysia Open.
“Now we are really focused and are set to play at the Malaysian Open. Our games have improved since All England,” said Goh.
“Furthermore, our world ranking is on the rise, it’s like an added confidence that can help to raise our games,” added Goh.
Even though the pair has yet to win any international tournaments in 2019, they have advanced to the quarter-finals of Masters Malaysia, quarter-finals of Masters Indonesia, semi-finals of German Open and the semi-final of All England.
The World No. 9 mixed doubles pair will play their Malaysia Open first round match against Indonesia’s Alfian Eko Prasetya-Marsheilla Gischa Islami where they have never met before.
“We have never played against the Indonesian pair before, that’s why it’s hard to predict the outcome of the match. We can only hope to play our best against them,” explained Goh.
Malaysia’s World No. 5 mixed doubles pair, Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying will start their Malaysia Open against World No. 28 Kohei Gondo/Ayane Kurihara of Japan.
Some of the biggest names in men’s singles such as Kento Momota, Lin Dan, Chen Long will also hit the court at Malaysia Open.
