PETALING JAYA: The fire is back in mixed doubles shuttlers Hoo Pang Ron and Cheng Su Yin.
The world No. 16 Pang Ron-Su Yin went down fighting 23-25, 15-21 to China’s world No. 2 Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin in the quarter-finals of the World Championships at the Adidas Arena in Paris yesterday but they believe they have rediscovered their mojo after a tough year.
Pang Ron-Su Yin only made it into the last eight twice this year in the Indonesian Masters in January and Orleans Masters in March before the world meet and looked short of confidence heading to Paris.
The duo though were determined to prove themselves and stunned world No. 6 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie to reach the quarter-finals.
Pang Ron-Su Yin also showed great fighting spirit against the formidable Zhenbang-Yaxin, recovering from 0-10 in the first game to draw level at 19-19.
The pair could not finish off the game but managed to rattle the Chinese pair, who were forced to step up their game to win the match.
Pang Ron was disappointed with the outcome of the match but happy with the improvement shown by him and Su Yin in the tournament.
“When we fought back after trailing far behind, it’s more about how much we wanted to win and how much we wanted to prove ourselves,” said Pang Ron in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Not many expected us to win this match but we just wanted to give our best and not give up.
“We were the underdogs and had nothing to lose. We are quite proud of our run here but we could have done even better.
“When we go back, we need to train harder and look ahead to our next tournaments,” added Pang Ron.
