KUALA LUMPUR: Maybe it is time for S. Kisona (pic) to consider transitioning to women’s doubles to keep her professional badminton career alive.
The 2019 SEA Games singles gold medallist suffered another early exit at the German Open, falling to India’s Rakshitha Sree Ramraj 20-22, 21-5, 23-25 in the first round on Wednesday.
Earlier, she had no trouble clearing the qualifying round, defeating Spain’s Clara Azurmendi.
This marks Kisona’s second early-round exit this year, following a similar fate at the Thailand Masters in January, where she bowed out in the second round to Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani.
Since leaving the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in 2022, Kisona has struggled to regain top form. However, she ended her title drought last year by clinching the Dutch Open in October.
Even more notably, two months later, she teamed up with Yap Rui Chen in women’s doubles and secured the Nepal International title.
Switching from singles to doubles is not uncommon and has proven successful for several Malaysian players.
Among them is M. Thinaah, who is thriving alongside Pearly Tan, and former men’s singles shuttler Goh Soon Huat, now ranked world No. 3 in mixed doubles with his wife, Shevon Lai Jemie.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian, K. Letshanaa, put up a strong fight against Denmark’s Line Christophersen but ultimately lost 22-20, 20-22, 15-21.
Several Malaysian men’s doubles pairs Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong, Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing, Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub-Tan Wee Kiong and Chia Wei Jie-Lwi Sheng Hao also suffered early exits in the first round.
