Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s World No. 13 mixed doubles pair – Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai has decided to pull out of the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) that will be held in Wuhan, China, from April 23 to April 28.
When speaking to Malaysian media, Lai said that it’s more important for Goh to recover from his left hamstring injury so that they will be healthy enough to play at the New Zealand Open, which will be the first Olympic qualifying tournament for Tokyo 2020.
“Of course, we are a bit disappointed but what’s more important is that he (Soon Huat) could recover and get back into good shape so that we get ready for the New Zealand Open,” said Lai in a video posted on social media page.
Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai have pulled out in the second round of the Malaysia Open early this year after Goh experienced some dizziness following a training session and the pair was also not able to defend their Singapore Open title after being knocked out by Yuki Kaneko/Misaki Matsutomo of Japan 22-24, 10-21 in the second round.
“We’ll need to forget about one or two losses. I hope we do not give ourselves too much pressure and expectations at the New Zealand Open because our main goal is to regain our rhythm at a tournament,” added Lai.
“Therefore, the New Zealand Open will be a good beginning for us to get our rhythm back before playing in some important tournaments afterwards,” explained Lai.
The pair will kick off their New Zealand Open opener against Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/Tan Wei Han and are expected to face either Choi Sol-Gyu/Kim So-Yeong or Park Kyung-Hoon/Kim Hye-Rin of Korea in the second round.
As for World No. 26 women’s singles player Goh Jin Wei, her coach Tey Seu Bock said that the reason Goh Jin Wei withdrew from BAC was because she had been feeling exhausted from competing in a lot of tournaments.
“I would like to give her have enough rest and I hope she’ll be back to her top form at the New Zealand Open,” said Tey.
