PETALING JAYA: Haikal Nazri contemplated quitting from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) six months ago but the transformed men’s doubles player has now set his sights on breaking into the top 20 with Choong Hon Jian.
Haikal’s troubles started after splitting with Wan Arif Wan Junaidi to combine with Nur Izzuddin Rumsani but the three-month combination ended in June last year.
National doubles coach Tan Bin Shen came to the rescue by suggesting a disillusioned Haikal partner Hong Jian and the rest was history.
Hon Jian-Haikal had a slow start but hit top form by winning back-to-back titles – the Syed Modi International and the Indian Masters – in New Delhi and Guhawati respectively last month to boost their career.
The pair started from scratch but are currently ranked world No. 52.
Haikal believed that they are now more confident about breaking into the top 20 this year.
“I was looking forward to building my career with Izzuddin but it lasted only three months.
“I was frustrated and lost, and was even thinking of leaving BAM,” said Haikal.
“In the National Championships, I was tried out with Fazriq (Razif) but I was without a partner after that.
“However, coach Bin Shen gave me hope and asked me to give it a try with Hon Jian and it turned out to be the turning point for both of us.
“After winning back-to-back titles in India, we started believing in ourselves that we can do better and must start aiming higher.
“Our objective this year is to break into the top 20 but initially we must make it into the top 32 first as this will allow us to play in the super 500, 750 and 1000 tournaments.
“This will give us the chance to play against the top 10 pairs, which will help us become a better combination.”
Hon Jian-Haikal’s first super 500 outing will be the Indonesian Masters in Jakarta from Jan 23-28 where they will be playing in the qualifying rounds and should have no problems beating Mexican pair Job Castillo-Luis Navarro.
Haikal is hopeful of reaching the quarter-finals but in order to do so, they will have to overcome world No. 11 Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin of Indonesia in the second round.
