Juniors on guard against repeating mistake of 2007
News 8:21 AM
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia are keeping their fingers crossed that a mistake made in the 2007 Asian Junior Championships will not be repeated this time.
Then, Malaysia were on a high after winning the mixed team title but the players ran out of steam in the individual events and their top singles players, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Lydia Cheah, failed to come good.
And a title came from the least expected mixed doubles pair of Tan Wee Kiong-Woon Khe Wei, saving Malaysia the blushes.
Team manager Hau Kim Tho hoped that history would not repeat itself.
Yesterday morning, Malaysia rode on the strength of their singles players to win the mixed team title, beating defending champions China in the final.
The individual competitions began yesterday evening and Malaysia are banking on Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Tee Jing Yi to land the elusive singles titles in the boys’ and girls’ competitions respectively.
Hopes are also high on the boys’ pairs — top seeds Ow Yao Han-Yew Hong Kheng, Ong Jian Hao-Pang Zheng Lin and Yeoh Choong Yee-Chooi Kah Ming — to make it an all-Malaysian final for the first time in the series.
Kim Tho said that it was important for the players to come out of the euphoria of winning the mixed team title to give full attention to their challenges in the individual events.
“In 2007, the players were unable to settle down after winning the team title. As a result, we did not enjoy a good run in the individual competitions,” he said.
“We have only won half the battle and the players have to keep their concentration on the tasks ahead. It will be tougher on Iskandar and Jing Yi because they have been in action from the first day of the team competition.”
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 8:21 AM.
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