PETALING JAYA: Buck up, girls!
National women’s singles head coach Datuk Tey Seu Bock wants his under-performing charges to double up their efforts during the post-season training and be more competitive next year.
Seu Bock has taken several players to task for failing to progress much this year.
Seu Bock did not name the players but it was obvious he was referring to the rest of the team other than the country’s top two women’s singles shuttlers — Goh Jin Wei and Soniia Cheah, the world No. 29 and No. 30.
The other six members in the department are Lee Ying Ying (No. 40), S. Kisona (No. 86), M. Thinaah (No. 87), Lim Yin Fun (No. 97), Ho Yen Mei (No. 137) and Lee Zii Yii (No. 184).
While Jin Wei and Soniia have been playing in the top-flight World Tour tournaments, the rest are struggling to even make an impact in the lower-tier satelite events with the exception of Yen Mei, who captured the Russian Open in July.
“There’s no way I can be satisfed when some of my players can’t get past the second or third round in the IC (International Challenge) and IS (Interniational Series) events,” said Seu Bock.
“Given their standard, these are the tournaments they should be winning. Many opportunities have been given to them to shine but they let me down.
“That’s the reason why I didn’t send them out for many competitions and make them train back home instead.
“How am I going to justify their tournament trips to the management when they struggle to deliver even in the lower-tier tournaments.”
Seu Bock said he will make some changes on the training module during the post-season to help the struggling players.
“I’ll do my best to help them to rectify some of the training that probably didn’t work out. Different players need different approach. I will deal with them one by one,” said Seu Bock.
“In fact, in the last few months, I have travelled less (to tournaments) to oversee the training.
“But they must toughen themselves up physically and mentally and willing to work hard in order to succeed.”
Seu Bock said his goal is to have three of his players to be in the top 30 next year.
“Hopefully we can push three or four of them to be in the top 30.....with one, or possibly two in the top 20. That’s the improvement I’m looking at,” said Seu Bock.
“Players like Kisona and Yen Mei, if they not injury-prone, should be easily ranked in the top 50.”