THE SEA Games in Vietnam was a steep learning curve for Jacky Kok Jing Hong.
But now that the national men’s singles shuttler has learnt his lessons, he has vowed to come back stronger.
Jacky was eliminated in the first round of the individual event where he had the misfortune of facing Singapore’s reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew.
The good things is he did put up a great fight against Kean Yew, even managing to wrest a game from him.
The 20-year-old did manage to bring home a silver medal from the team event but lost all his matches, where he played at first singles, losing to Vietnam’s experienced Nguyen Tien Minh, Kean Yew again in the semi-finals and rising Thai star Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final.
However, his teammates stepped up to save the day.
Despite having to return home from his debut SEA Games without a single win, Jacky is grateful for the experience.
“I had a good experience as I got to play against some of the world’s best players. I saw where I stand against these players. This is just the start for me,” said the Kedah-born youngster.
“I aim to improve my performances after this and get better results,” he vowed.
Jacky, who is ranked 199th in the world, will now turn his attention to two International Challenge tournaments – Italian International (June 2-5) and Denmark Masters (June 9-12).
Although he won Swedish Open in January and reached the final of the Estonian International before that, he is refusing to set any targets for himself now so as to not put undue pressure on himself.
