National mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie in action against Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard-Christine Busch in the first round of Malaysian Masters at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil on Wednesday. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are staying grounded despite checking into the Singapore Open quarter-finals.
That is because their quarter-final opponents today, Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran, have proven to be tricky customers in the past.
In six previous meetings, both pairs have secured three wins each. Interestingly, the victories have alternated between them.
Their most recent encounter came in the second round of the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China, last April, where Soon Huat-Shevon came out on top. If the pattern continues, it could be the Thais’ turn this time.
Still, records are just numbers on paper. The real battle takes place on court. For Soon Huat-Shevon, the priority now is to regain their rhythm, especially after coming through a tough second-round match yesterday.
“We’ll take it one match at a time, prepare for each match. The most important thing now is we get our bodies back into condition and not have any more injuries.
“We must recover fully from the injury and also get our momentum back on court. Because previously, we lost a bit of momentum, lost a bit of rhythm. So, we’re trying to get back on court, get back our rhythm together,” said Shevon in a post match interview with BWF.
The husband-and-wife duo came into the tournament determined to bounce back after a disappointing outing on home ground last week, where they suffered an early exit in the first round of the Malaysian Masters.
They succeeded in putting that behind them with a composed performance against scratch Chinese pair Feng Yanzhe-Wei Yaxin, prevailing 21-11, 21-19 in 34 minutes.
The Chinese pair may be a scratch combination, but they are no pushovers. Yanzhe is the current world No. 1 with regular partner Huang Dongping, while Yaxin is ranked No. 2 alongside Jiang Zhenbang. Moreover Yaxin-Zhenbang were runners-up at the Malaysian Masters.
Despite the threat, Soon Huat-Shevon held their nerve to deliver a solid win.
For Shevon, the result was especially satisfying given her husband’s recent recovery from injury.
“Actually, before we went into the match, there was still some uncertainty because our performance last week wasn’t as stable and consistent as we expected. And my partner had just recovered from his injury.
“But today, I really want to give credit to him again because he’s worked really, really hard to get back on court. To deliver a performance like that is not easy.
“I think we both played our parts well. Although there were some unforced errors and a few miscommunications, we managed to pull through,” added Shevon.
