PETALING JAYA: Goh Soon Huat and his partner Shevon Lai Jemie are still beating themselves up over the fact that they made too many mistakes during their Thailand Open challenge.
The world No. 7 Soon Huat-Shevon were denied a place in the quarter-finals after going down 13-21, 17-21 to Hong Kong’s world No. 22 Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet at the Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok on Thursday.
Despite being ranked higher, Soon Huat-Shevon have a poor head-to-head record against Chun Man-Ying Suet, having lost five times to the latter in their previous six meetings.
Soon Huat-Shevon survived the energy-sapping rubber match to triumph over the Hong Kong pair in the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open last July but could not repeat their amazing performance in Thailand.
Shevon said their game plan did not work out and readily admitted their lack of communication on court also contributed to their defeat.
“Our performances were not on point in many aspects, especially our strategy and game play,” said Shevon.
“We were also not communicating well on court and we did not realise that we had made many mistakes that cost us many points in the match.”
It was their second consecutive early-round exit after crashing out 19-21, 21-18, 12-21 to Indonesia’s world No. 33 Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva in the first round of the Malaysian Masters last Wednesday.
Soon Huat-Shevon have to be on their toes as they were handed with a tricky draw in the Singapore Open at the Singapore Indoor Stadium starting next Tuesday.
They face a tough opening hurdle as they play against SEA Games newly-crowned champions Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu of Indonesia.
None of the pair have the advantage when it comes to the head-to-head record because Soon Huat-Shevon defeated the world No. 11 20-22, 21-19, 21-12 in the first round of the Japan Open last August before losing 14-21, 10-21 in the first round of the French Open last October.
If Soon Huat-Shevon managed to come out on top, they might face either Hong Kong’s Reginald Lee-Ng Tsz Yau or Adam Hall-Julie Macpherson of Scotland in the second round.
Meanwhile, the other Malaysians in the fray will be Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei. Kian Meng-Pei Jing will open their campaign against South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun while Tang Jie-Ee Wei will play Japanese Kyohei Yamashita-Naru Shinoya.
