PETALING JAYA: Fighter Justin Hoh (pic) will not give up on his dream of reaching the top despite having to go through a long injury layoff.
The national men’s singles shuttler has been forced to stay patient and work on his recovery after rupturing his left Achilles tendon in April.
Justin had showed great promise prior to his injury and was fast tracked to the senior squad last November and went on to reach a career high No. 53 in the world rankings.
The 19-year-old’s progress, though, was cruelly disrupted due to his injury which he sustained in training.
Despite this, Justin has vowed to keep fighting.
“Since small, my dream has been to become a world and Olympic Games champions,” said Justin.
“My injury will not stop me from coming back and fighting to achieve my dreams.
“I’m confident of returning to competitions stronger than before this injury.”
Justin has returned to court for training and is expected to start competing in tournaments in November or December.
The youngster is also out to close the gap with the current top two in the country – world No. 13 Lee Zii Jia and world No. 22 Ng Tze Yong – once he returns to action.
“I always watch Zii Jia and Tze Yong play in top World Tour events and my goal is to chase them as they are my seniors,” said Justin.
“I want to one day compete alongside them.
“I was supposed to start playing in World Tour Super 300 and 500 competitions before my injury prevented this.
“But my ranking will not drop too much when I return, so I hope to improve my position again as fast as possible to play in these events.”
Meanwhile, independent player Zii Jia has climbed up four rungs from No. 17 after reaching the semi-finals of the recent Australian Open in Sydney.
The improvement under new coach Wong Tat Meng is a boost for the 25-year-old ahead of the World Championships in Copenhagen from Aug 21-27.
