PETALING JAYA: In a rather surprising U-turn, national mixed doubles shuttler Goh Liu Ying has decided to postpone her decision to go for surgery.
The 24-year-old Liu Ying who is ranked sixth in the world with partner Chan Peng Soon has been suffering from long-standing knee problems, with her right knee revealed to have a meniscus tear and a partial ligament tear. There is also a small meniscus tear on her left knee.
And the Malacca-born Liu Ying had initially made up her mind to go under the knife which would in effect rule her out for at least six months.
That would mean she would miss out on several big tournaments such as the Asian and Commonwealth Games, as well as the World Championships in August.
The diminutive Liu Ying however has now decided to put off the surgery, at least for another month.
“Liu Ying came back to us and said that she doesn’t feel as much pain as before and she wants to try giving it another go first,” explained mixed doubles coach Jeremy Gan.
“This is her decision. She wants to delay the surgery for a month and see how her condition is on court during training.
“There is nothing much else that I can do except to accept and support her decision.”
Jeremy however pointed out that the plans to put the partnership of Peng Soon and Lai Pei Jing to the test will not be scrapped with the pair still set to compete in the Austrian International Challenge (Feb 19-22), German Open (Feb 25-March 2) and the All-England from March 4-9.
“This is a bit of an awkward and unexpected situation because the plan was to push ahead in finding the next best mixed combination for Malaysia,” said Jeremy.
“It will be on hold first, pending Liu Ying’s condition and decision but I will still send Peng Soon-Pei Jing for the three tournaments in Europe to see how much of a potential they have.
“As for the others, they will start preparing for the Malaysian Open GP Gold (March 25-30) as it is important to keep everyone on their toes.
“Despite the uncertainty right now, I am pleased to see all the mixed doubles shuttlers adopting a positive attitude during training. It is probably because they know that there might be changes and they are all fighting for the opportunity,” added Jeremy.
Besides Peng Soon, Liu Ying and Pei Jing, the others involved in mixed doubles are Tan Aik Quan, Ong Jian Guo, Mohd Lufti Zaim, Tan Chee Tean, Wong Fai Yin (men); and Lim Yin Loo, Chow Mei Kuan, Soong Fie Cho and Shevon Lai Jemie (women).
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