PETALING JAYA: Past results will mean little in tomorrow’s clash between K. Letshanaa (pic) and Hong Kong’s Saloni Mehta in the first round of the women’s singles event at the World Championships in Paris.
National singles coach K. Yogendran has reminded the 21-year-old Letshanaa not to get too comfortable despite holding the upper hand against the Indian-born Saloni, who picked up Cantonese and then later changed her nationality.
Debutant Letshanaa has beaten Saloni in both of their previous meetings at the Asian Mixed Team Championships in Qingdao, China, in February this year and the Indonesian International Challenge quarter-finals in Surabaya last year.
Although the odds favour Letshanaa to extend her winning record over Saloni, Yogendran stressed that his charge must not take things lightly as every player in Paris would be eager to make an impact.
“She has faced the Hong Kong player twice and won both times, but this is badminton, and everyone will come well-prepared for the world meet.
“The most important thing is for us to prepare thoroughly, and for her to step into the court with the right mindset and bring out her game quickly,” said Yogendran.
The 42-year-old coach is also hopeful that everything Letshanaa picked up during the centralised training camp in Copenhagen last week with the Danish national squad can be translated into her performance in this match.
The five-day camp saw Letshanaa, along with men’s singles players Leong Jun Hao and Justin Hoh, getting the chance to train with the likes of Anders Antonsen, Rasmus Gemke and Mia Blichfeldt.
“They went all out during the training sessions in Denmark last week, and I can say our preparations have been quite good. Throughout our time there, their focus was at the highest level without any distractions,” he said.
“On top of that, they were able to learn new things, especially observing the culture of European players in training, and it opened their minds to fresh methods and techniques that they might not have known before.”
Apart from Letshanaa, another women’s singles shuttler in action in the first round is former world junior champion Goh Jin Wei, who will take on 14th seed Gao Fangjie of China.
