PETALING JAYA: Rising women’s singles shuttler K. Letshanaa has set her sights on breaking into the top 40 in the world rankings by the end of the year.
Gearing up for the Thailand Masters this week, Letshanaa hopes her performance in 2024 will translate to a rise in rankings as she currently sits at world No. 60.
“Personally if I can get into the top 40 this year, I would be happy.
“I know it’s not going to be easy but I have set the target, so now I have to just keep working on that and hope for the best,” said the 20-year-old.
Although she ended her run at the recently concluded Indonesian Masters in the first round after faling to defeat Indonesian Putri Kusuma, Letshanaa has taken many positives from the Super 500 tournament.
“It was a tiring experience because I only got to know I’d be in the tournament at the last minute, which left me just one day to train before it began.
“But I think I got some good experience from it. I defeated a 42nd ranked player in the qualifying round and faced a top 32 bracket player in the first round.
“It’s tough to play against a local player on their home ground.
“The stadium is packed even in the first round and everyone cheered for them.
“Even though I lost, I still put up a fight. Now I’m looking forward to gaining more confidence from there into my next tournament.”
At the Thailand Masters, Letshanaa will start her campaign against Peruvian Ines Lucia Castillo Salazar in the qualifying round.
Meanwhile, Letshanaa said her time training with women’s singles coach K. Yogendran has benefited her game.
“I have been training with him for a while now and the connection between us is close, we can understand each other well.
“He is able to understand the players and identify mistakes while pointing out ways that we can improve.
“Even though the outcome or progress may seem slow, we are constantly working on improving ourselves,” she said.
Letshanaa said Yogendran has been a helping hand when it comes to improving her mental strength.
“He is strong person both mentally and physically. Whenever we’re down he will find ways to cheer us up and talk about the psychological side of things.
“He does it all and doesn’t let his players be down or distracted by other things,” she said.
