Kisona eyeing first individual title

Kisona Selvaduray took just 24 minutes to down Thailand’s Chananchida Dubthuk 21-14, 21-10 in her first round match in the Maybank Malaysia International Youth Under-19 championships.

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian Youth Games (AYG) bronze medallist Kisona Selvaduray is on the prowl for her first individual title, and she has her eye on the Maybank Malaysia International Youth Under-19 badminton championships.

Seeded seventh, Kisona needed just 24 minutes to down Thailand’s Chananchida Dubthuk 21-14, 21-10 in her first round match at Stadium Juara in Bukit Kiara. She is set to face unseeded Chen Yu Fei from China in the second round on Wednesday.

Having made it to the last 16 in the 2012 edition, the Negri Sembilan shuttler has seen her game improve tremendously since training under Indonesian Rony Ausgustinus eight months ago.

Since then, she has made the semi-finals of the Smiling Fish Thailand International Series and the last 16 of the 100PLUS Badminton Asia Youth Under-19 Championships and Vietnam International Challenge this year.

“He’s made a lot of difference to my game. We worked on improving my endurance and stamina on court and that has really made an impact and helped me up my game,” said Kisona.

“I’ve made good progress so far this yeer and if I can cap it off by winning the title, it would be really great. I’m going to give it all I have,” added the 15-year-old.

Last month, she clinched the bronze in the women’s singles at the AYG in Nanjing after losing to China’s Qin Jing Jing in the semi-finals.

Seeded sixth in this tournament, Jing Jing is not drawn in the same half as Kisona. And, if a re-match is on the cards, the Malaysian is bent on putting up a better fight.

“Losing to her in the semis at the AYG was tough. But it’s a different tournament now and I’m ready,” said Kisona.

“If we meet again it the final, I’ll definitely take the fight to her,” she added.

Meanwhile, eight Malaysian qualifiers have made it to the first round of the men’s singles competition. Sim Fong Hau has the easiest route beating the Philippines’ Frell Keeyann Gabuelo 21-13, 21-16 to advance to the second round. He received a walkover from Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen to book his place in Wednesday’s first round against South Korea’s Lee Jun-su.

The other Malaysians who made it to the main tournament are Thanesh Veerapen, Kenneth Choo, Lim Zhen Ting, Cheam June Wei, Mahendran Selvaduray, Sim Yong Hen and Aaron Chia.