PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Justin Hoh needs to add maturity to his game to become a world class player.
World No. 48 Justin has done well to get back into the world’s top 50 after battling back from an Achilles injury last year, which kept him out of tournaments for eight months.
The 20-year-old has been progressing quite well but he is finding it difficult to go beyond the quarter-finals in World Tour competitions this year.
Justin made it as far as the last eight thrice in the Taiwan Masters and Open, and Malaysia Super 100.
He last reached the semi-finals of a World Tour tournament in the Indian Masters last December but had to retire during the match against Indonesia’s Alwi Wijaya due to a leg injury.
Men’s singles coach K. Yogendran is pleased with Justin’s progress so far but believes there are some areas where he believes his charge needs to improve on to make a breakthrough in major tournaments and continue to move up the rankings.
“Justin is mentally very strong. When he was initially promoted to the senior team, he took just six months to break into the world’s top 50,” said Yogendran.
“Then he suffered the Achilles injury. But he managed to come back and took only about seven months to move up to the top 50 again. His body is also quite strong for his age.
“But to be free from injuries and for him to break into the world’s top 20, he needs to be more mature on court.
“He needs to work on his footwork, learn how to save energy in matches and how to sustain his form from the first round to the final in tournaments.
“So far in tournaments, we can see that he can win matches in three games in the first and second rounds but tends to struggle in the last eight.
“So, as coaches, we need a formula for him.
“We need to work on how to bring him to the next level by working on his weaknesses,” added Yogendran.
Justin is currently the national No. 3 in the men’s singles, behind only world No. 7 Lee Zii Jia and world No. 31 Leong Jun Hao.
The youngster will next compete in the Korean Masters from Nov 5-10.
