PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao is remaining upbeat despite missing out on the Japan Masters title.
Jun Hao toppled several higher ranked players including Japan’s world No. 4 Kodai Naraoka and Indonesia’s world No. 6 Jonatan Christie enroute to the final but his monumental efforts seemed to have taken their toll when he went down 10-21, 13-21 to China’s world No. 9 Li Shifeng in the final in Kumamoto yesterday.The world No. 31 needed three games in all four of his matches prior to the final including an energy-sapping 80-minute match against Naraoka and had little left to give in the final and lost in 44 minutes.
It was Jun Hao’s fourth consecutive defeat at the hands of Shifeng and he has yet to beat the Chinese ace.
Jun Hao though is staying positive after making it into this first World Tour Super 500 final and is looking forward to building on his performance.
“I gave all I had in the final but it’s not the result that I wanted,” said Jun Hao.
“It still feels great for me to bring down a few higher ranked players to reach the final.
“Moving forward, I hope to be consistent in every tournament. I have to continue what I did well here and keep improving on my shortcomings.”
Jun Hao is the first men’s singles player from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to reach a World Tour final this year.
The 25-year-old believes he has found his feet again after suffering early exits in his last six tournaments.
Jun Hao reached a career high No. 27 in the world in July following back-to-back quarter-final finishes in the Singapore and Indonesian Opens but dropped out of the top 30 after his brief slump in form.
Jun Hao though is expected to break into the top 30 again after his fine performance in Japan.
He will next compete in the China Masters which starts on Tuesday.
Jun Hao will play Japan’s world No. 33 Takuma Obayashi in the first round in Shenzhen.
Meanwhile, Shifeng captured his first title since winning gold in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
RESULTS
Men’s singles: Li Shifeng (Chn) bt Leong Jun Hao (Mas) 21-10, 21-13.
Men’s doubles: Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (Ina) bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 21-15, 17-21, 21-17.
Women’s singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Gregoria Mariska (Ina) 21-12, 21-12.
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) 21-15, 21-5.
Mixed doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) 21-16, 10-21, 21-17.
