PETALING JAYA: Newlyweds Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Lai Jemie don’t plan to take a long break after their wedding ceremony last week.
Instead, Soon Huat-Shevon are eager to return to court and will be competing in the mixed doubles in the Thailand Open from May 14-19 in Bangkok.
The fire is still burning bright for the sport for the lovebirds after their nuptials.
“We started training again on Monday after the wedding,” said Shevon.
“Both of us are still very passionate about the sport. We are also more motivated to continue playing after doing better lately.
“We want to get back on track and get ourselves ready as soon as possible.
“Our wedding break can come after we retire. For now, we want to treasure every opportunity we have on court,” added Shevon.
Shevon and Soon Huat’s hunger to keep competing at the highest level is commendable especially after the pair missed out on a spot in the Paris Olympics in July.
The duo captured their first title since 2018 in the Swiss Open in Basel in March.
Soon Huat-Shevon, who are ranked No. 16 in the world, have also been one of the more consistent pairs in the country and are currently the second best pair behind world No. 9 Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei in the rankings.
In the Thailand tourney, the pair have a good opportunity to return with a bang as most of the world’s top 10 pairs will not be playing.
World No. 6 and homesters Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai are the highest ranked pair in the tournament followed by Indonesia’s world No. 15 Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas.
Soon Huat-Shevon will open their campaign against another home pair, world No. 35 Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.
A win will likely see the former play Indonesia’s Adnan Maulana-Nita Violina in the second round.
Soon Huat-Shevon’s first big test could come in the last eight against another Indonesian pair, world No. 21 Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu.
Meanwhile, the other Malaysian pairs in the fray will be Choong Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee, Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow and Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin.
