PETALING JAYA: National men's singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao’s brave run at the Hong Kong Open ended in heartbreak after luck deserted him in the men’s singles quarter-finals on Friday (Sept 12).
The 26-year-old came up against world No. 4 Li Shifeng, who held a psychological edge after winning five of their six previous meetings, including their most recent clash at the Indonesian Masters in June.
Despite that, Jun Hao said he had prepared thoroughly with his coach K. Yogendran, by working out a solid game plan, and he executed it well enough to force the match into a deciding game.
He was agonisingly close to victory when he held match point at 20-19 in the decider, but Shifeng kept his composure to turn the tables on the Malaysian and clinch a 20-22, 21-14, 20-22 win after a gruelling 78 minutes to reach the semi-finals.
It was a crushing blow for Jun Hao, who had given everything on court.
“I felt that what I had planned and wanted to do was carried out on court, but I lost by just one or two points. It was so close.
“Maybe I’m still not quite good enough,” said Jun Hao in a post-match interview with Badminton World Federation (BWF).
He stressed that nerves were not an issue in the tense closing stages but admitted that luck was not on his side against Shifeng.
“I was not nervous. At the end, I pushed myself to give everything I could and even did things I didn’t think I was capable of. But luck just wasn’t with me," he added.
Although he lost, Jun Hao can still hold his head high as his campaign in the Hong Kong Open this time was far better than last year when he made an early exit in the second round after going down to homester Lee Cheuk Yiu.
