PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Justin Hoh faces a tough test in the German Open which starts today in Mulheim.
All eyes will be on world No. 51 Justin in the tournament as he is the highest ranked Malaysian in the men’s singles in the absence of world No. 7 Lee Zii Jia and Leong Jun Hao (No. 27).
The 20-year-old has a tricky opening match against Japan’s world No. 43 Takuma Obayashi.
Despite holding a slight advantage over Obayashi after beating the latter in their only meeting so far in the 2023 Osaka International Challenge, Justin needs to be wary of the Japanese, who has improved since then and defeated the higher ranked Jun Hao thrice in their past four encounters.
If Justin can upstage the 25-year-old, he will likely have another difficult challenge in the second round against Thailand Masters champion Jason Teh from Singapore.
Singles head coach Kenneth Jonassen is keen to see how his charge fares in Germany and in the Orleans Masters (March 4-9) in France and Swiss Open (March 18-23) in Basel.
“Justin has had solid preparations. The German Open and two other World Tour Super 300 competitions will be another good opportunity for him to learn and develop,” said Jonassen.
“He will face higher ranked and more experienced players from the first day and I’m looking forward to seeing how he will adapt to their style of play but at the same time try to dictate his own playing style.”
Justin will be out to do better after going down to Indonesia’s Mohd Zaki Ubaidillah in the Thailand Masters first round.
The youngster’s best performance in a Super 300 event came in the Taiwan Open last September where he made it into the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Malaysia will also be represented in the men’s singles in Germany by independent player Cheam June Wei, who will play Taiwan’s Su Liyang in the first round.
In the women’s singles, K. Letshanaa will open her campaign against Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen while S. Kisona will take on Spain’s Clara Azurmendi in the qualifying round.
