Growing confidence: Aidil Sholeh will play homester K. Sathish Kumar in t0he first round of the Syed Modi International in Lucknow, India.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin has vowed to repay the faith shown in him by his coaches by continuing his encouraging form of late.
Aidil had been struggling to find his footing in the national team since 2019 but managed to turn his form around by capturing his maiden individual title at the Indonesian International Challenge in Surabaya last month.
The 23-year-old had also reached the semi-finals of the World Tour Super 100 KL Masters in Titiwangsa in the beginning of the month before going down fighting to Taiwan’s world No. 36 Lee Chia-hao.
“I’m quite satisfied with my performances towards the end of the year,” said Aidil, who is currently ranked No. 89 in the world.
“I have been giving 100% in training and I have also been watching videos of the top players in the world to improve myself.
“I have grown in confidence and I hope to continue doing well, so that I can move up the rankings.
“As long as I am still given an opportunity in the national team, I will keep doing my very best.”
Aidil is set to compete in the Super 300 Syed Modi International in Lucknow, India, which gets underway tomorrow before ending his season at the Indian Masters in Assam from Dec 5-10.
He will open his campaign in the qualifying round against homester K. Sathish Kumar.
A win will pit Aidil against top seed and World Championships bronze medallist H.S Prannoy.
“It will be tough for me in the main draw against Prannoy,” acknowledged Aidil.
“But I will give it my best shot.”
Meanwhile, the other Malaysian men’s singles players in the fray are Leong Jun Hao, Cheam June Wei, Soong Joo Ven and Justin Hoh.
Joo Ven will also start from the qualifying round against Sri Lanka’s Viren Nettasinghe.
Jun Hao and Justin are set to clash in the first round while June Wei has a tricky opener against Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren.
