Too hard to beat: Tan Kian Meng (right) and Lai Pei Jing lost to China’s world No. 5 Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin in the semi-finals. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttler Lai Pei Jing is not planning to slow down and is out to maintain her form with Tan Kian Meng in the Australian Open starting on Tuesday in Sydney.
Pei Jing lost almost all her life savings in a scam recently but it did not stop her from reaching the semi-finals of the Indonesian Open with Kian Meng.
World No. 21 Kian Meng-Pei Jing saw their good run come to an end after going down 16-21, 18-21 to China’s world No. 5 Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin at Istora Senayan in Jakarta yesterday.
The professional pair’s winless run against Zhennbang-Yaxin continued as it was their third defeat to them.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing though pocketed US$18,200 (RM85,540) for their efforts and can hold their heads high after making it into their first semi-final of the year.
“Overall, we are quite satisfied with our performance but we still lack consistency and we need to work on it,” said Pei Jing in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“We could not lead by more than two points today (yesterday) and we could not overtake our opponents once we lost the lead.
“It had been a memorable week though for us and we feel like we have been playing at home due to the strong support we received in the stadium.
“I want to focus on the Australian Open next before dealing with my personal issue,” added Pei Jing.
Kian Meng, who has been supporting Pei Jing after her ordeal, said: “Our opponents were more consistent than us during the crucial stages of the match.
“If we face them next time, we need to maintain our form and be more aggressive.
“Pei Jing and I have been improving this last few weeks and we need to keep pushing ourselves in training.”
Kian Meng-Pei Jing will play homesters Sam Ephraim-Dania Nugroho in the first round in Australia.
