Malaysia’s mixed doubles Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing in action against Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran in the first round of Malaysian Masters at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil on Wednesday. - IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing are running out of time to justify their position in the Road to Gold (RTG) Paris Olympics programme.
Yesterday, independent pair Kian Meng-Pei Jing went down 21-18, 21-23, 17-21 to Indonesia’s world No. 16 Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu in the mixed doubles first round of the French Open at the Glaz Arena in Rennes.
World No. 21 Kian Meng-Pei Jing started well and had a good opportunity to win the match as they were leading 11-7 in the second game but could not hold on.
The pair did well to fight back from 14-19 down to even the scores at 19-19 but ended up losing the game narrowly.
In the third game, the Indonesians stormed into a 5-0 lead and never looked back to seal the match.
It was Kian Meng-Pei Jing’s fourth consecutive early round exit after suffering the same fate in the Hong Kong, Arctic and Denmark Opens.
Overall, the duo have been struggling throughout the year and only went beyond the early rounds once in individual events - at the China Open last month where they made it into the semi-finals.
The duo now face a huge fight to maintain their position in the RTG programme for the 2024 Olympics in Paris and could be omitted.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, Goh Jin Wei also exited early after losing out 13-21, 20-22 to China’s world No. 14 Zhang Yiman.
World No. 28 Jin Wei gave Yiman a good fight in the second game and could have dragged the match into a decider when she led 19-16.
Yiman though fought back to end the 23-year-old’s hopes of an upset.
Jin Wei’s coach Nova Armada believes that she still had to work on her stamina.
“Jin Wei played well in the second game but is still struggling with stamina and power,” said Nova
“She has improved physically but it is still not enough.” (Malaysians only) Women’s singles: Zhang Yiman (Chn) bt Goh Jin Wei 21-13, 22-20. Mixed doubles: Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu (Ina) bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 18-21, 23-21, 21-17.
