Determined: Justin Hoh admitted that it would be an uphill battle for him in the Malaysian International Challenge but he is not discouraged.
PETALING JAYA: Justin Hoh is bracing himself for a challenging outing in the Malaysian International Challenge at the Arena Badminton Perak, Ipoh.
The men’s singles shuttler has been handed with a tough draw as he will take on third seed Kiran George of India in the opening match today.
Justin admitted that it would be an uphill battle for him but he was not discouraged by it.
“The draw is tough as I will face Kiran, a strong opponent in the first round,” said Justin.
“But I will take it all in my stride and try my best to put up a good fight.”
The 22-year-old is ranked 53rd in the world while Justin, 18, is only lying at the 316th spot.
The talented Kiran has won the Poland Open and emerged as the Denmark Masters runner-up this year, while the Indian is making a mark in the higher-ranked tournaments, Justin’s best is winning the lower-ranked Bonn International and Croatia Open titles.
“I did not set any target for this tournament as to avoid putting too much pressure on myself,” he said.
One thing is looking positive though as Justin has fully recovered from a left shin injury sustained in the Malaysian International Series last month.
The Malaysia International Challenge will be his first tournament since he joined the senior ranks and he believes he has gained a lot of on-court knowledge since training under national singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann, Hendrawan, Datuk Tey Seu Bock and K. Yogendran.
“Basically, my injury has fully recovered so I believe it will not affect my performance in this week’s competition,” said Justin, who trained under Datuk Misbun Sidek before joining the seniors.
“I’ve also learnt a lot from my coaches in terms of experience and on-court strategies even though it has not been long since I joined the senior squad.
“At the same time, I am grateful to coach Misbun for his guidance throughout the past three years and I’ll always remember his advice,” he added.
