KUALA LUMPUR: 2024 World Junior Badminton Championship (WJC) men’s doubles champions – Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing will focus on improving their first three shots following their poor performances at two recent European tournaments.
Aaron-Khai Xing were eliminated in the first round of the German Open by United States pair Zhi Yi Chen-Presley Smith 19-21, 18-21 and suffered a similar fate when they lost to Chinese pair Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang 13-21, 20-22 at the Orleans Masters.
Apart from improving their first three shots, Khai Xing said national men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi also demanded that they reduce their floating shots in the court.
Despite trying to implement Herry’s planned game tactics in Europe, Khai Xing admitted that they were still struggling to adapt to the new style of play, which has made it difficult for them to achieve their desired performance.
“Our performance was not satisfactory and the game plan did not reach 100%. We tried to use the strategy we practised before but it did not work because we were also new to Herry’s training programme.
“Maybe, it will take a little time because we are not used to Herry’s training programme. Before, we rarely practised the first three shots but now we need to get used to it first,” he told reporters after a training session yesterday.
Meanwhile, he said they will return to action at the Taiwan Open scheduled to be held at the Taipei Arena from May 6 to 11. — Bernama
