Tough opener: Youngster Justin Hoh has a tough route to the main draw in Japan Masters. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Youngster Justin Hoh has a chance to face off against national No. 1 singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia for the first time on the international stage at the Japan Masters.
But first, Justin must clear a tough qualifying round in the tournament starting tomorrow in Kumamoto.
The 20-year-old has been drawn against South Korea’s No. 1 and world No. 36 Jeon Hyeok-jin in the first round and if he wins, he will take on the winner of the match between Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong and Cho Geon-yap of South Korea in the second round.
Except for Jason, whom he has beaten four times in the past, he has not met the other players.
National singles coach K. Yogendran is not looking past the first round of the qualifiers just yet.
“It will be Justin’s first meeting against Zii Jia if he gets into the main draw but the focus is the qualifying tournament really,” said Yogendran.
“He has higher ranked players in his path. I just want him to enjoy his game and focus on his own performance first. He has to play two rounds in a day in order to make the main draw. He is only now playing in bigger ranked tournaments, and still not used to this environment yet.
“We are helping him to build his confidence, and let’s see his growth game by game,” added Yogendran.
The others in the same quarter with Zii Jia are Jonatan Christie of Indonesia and China’s Weng Hongyang.
Leong Jun Hao is the other Malaysian player in the main draw and will take on India’s Lakshya Sen in the first round. In his quarter are second seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan, Anthony Ginting of Indonesia and China’s Lu Guangzu.
