Partners for life: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie in action against China’s Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping during their China Open final. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie have no intention of quitting badminton just yet.
Why would they want to, after all, the 34-year-old Soon Huat, and partner Shevon, 31, are showing no signs of slowing down and are having their best year ever since combining seven years ago.
The world No. 12 independent pair, who tied the knot in May, finished runners-up in the China Open after going down fighting 21-16, 14-21, 17-21 to world No. 3 homesters Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping in Changzhou on Sunday.
Despite the defeat, it was still Soon Huat-Shevon’s best showing in a World Tour Super 1000 event and their third final of the year.
The duo captured the Swiss Open in March and Malaysian Masters in May.
“Every match we play is one less match in the future, so we just want to appreciate every chance we get on court now,” said Shevon in an interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“As long as we come out safely without injuries or illness, we want to keep competing. I think you guys will be seeing us for quite some time still.”
Soon Huat-Shevon now want to keep their good form going and qualify for the prestigious season ending World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou.
The pair currently sit third in the Race to Hangzhou rankings and are on course to make the cut as the top eight pairs will qualify.
“This result has given us a big opportunity to qualify for the Finals,” said Soon Huat.
“We will compete in the remaining tour events after this and focus on our aim to qualify for the Finals again.”
Soon Huat-Shevon qualified for the season finale three times before in 2018, 2020 and 2022 but missed out last year.
Korean Open champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, who made their debuts in the Finals last year, are also in a good position to qualify again as they are currently second in the Race to Hangzhou rankings.
Soon Huat-Shevon and Tang Jie-Ee Wei will compete in the Arctic Open (Oct 8-13) in Finland and Denmark Open (Oct 15-20) in Odense.
