PETALING JAYA: Missing out on two of the biggest tournaments so far this year has only fuelled the fire in men’s doubles shuttler Mohd Haikal Nazri to climb back up the rankings with Choong Hon Jian.
Haikal-Hon Jian did not qualify for the World Championships in Paris last week and were also forced to miss the All-England in March due to the former’s hip injury.
The young pair missed out on making their debuts in both the competitions and have struggled to regain their best form since returning from the injury in May, currently sitting 45th in the latest world rankings.
Haikal-Hon Jian though showed that they are getting back to their best when they stunned India’s 2022 Asian Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty to reach the last four of the Macau Open last month.
The duo’s sensational victory went under the radar after teammates Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi beat them and went on to win the title.
Despite not getting much plaudits for the win, it was hugely significant for Haikal-Hon Jian as they made it into the semi-finals for the first time since reaching the same stage in the Australian Open in June last year.
The pair now are keen to build on the win as they seek to improve on their rankings and get into a good position to qualify for the All-England and world meet next year.
“Honestly, it has been a struggle for me and Hon Jian to find our best form again,” said Haikal.
“So, the win over the Indian pair has boosted our confidence. We played freely without any pressure and enjoyed our game.
“I can say that the joy is back in training as well for us. We hope to maintain our form.
“We did not meet our targets to play in both the All-England and world meet this year but we believe our time will come,” added Haikal.
Haikal-Hon Jian are aiming to return to their best ranking of No. 18 which they achieved last year.
“We don’t want to aim too high for now but we hope to at least get back to our best ranking of 18,” said Haikal.
“We still have many things to improve on though, like our endurance and quality of shots.
“We also need to reduce our mistakes. We have been working on these in training.”
Haikal-Hon Jian will next compete in the World Tour Super 500 Hong Kong Open which starts tomorrow in Kowloon. The pair will start in the qualifying round against Japan’s world No. 34 Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura.
