KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles shuttler Chan Peng Soon is positive that his new partnership with Lai Pei Jing will strike a medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games from July 23-Aug 3 although they have not been that impressive in the last two tournaments.
In the Australian Open which ended on Sunday in Sydney, Peng Soon-Pei Jing went down meekly 11-21, 15-21 to Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thoungthongkam in the quarter-finals.
It was their second tournament together since Peng Soon parted ways with regular partner Goh Liu Ying, who went for a surgery to correct both her injured knees in May.
At the India Open early this month, world No. 65 Peng Soon-Pei Jing lost in the second round to top seeds Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei of China.
Peng Soon admitted that he was looking for a timely boost ahead of his first Commonwealth Games with Pei Jing by doing well at the Australian Open, but there were just too many awkward moments in Sydney.
“We have to improve our combination. We did not play well as a pair but I believe it can be solved. With more time, Pei Jing and I can make our partnership stronger,” said Peng Soon.
“If we can fine tune our movements and offer better support for one another during training in the next two weeks, we have a chance to enter the Commonwealth Games as one of the title contenders. But it will not be a walk in the park. The standard is quite high.”
Those set to be a threat to them are world No. 5 Chris Adcock-Gabrielle Adcock of England, world No. 12 Chrisnanta Danny Bawa-Vanessa Neo of Singapore and world No. 13 Robert Blair-Imogen Bankier of Scotland.
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