PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao is still lacking the killer instinct.
Jun Hao suffered heartbreak yet again when he narrowly went down 19-21, 24-26 to Indonesia’s world No. 21 Alwi Farhan in the Korean Open first round on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old had chances to drag the match into a decider when he had three game points in the second game but could not convert and ended up losing.
Jun Hao’s inability to take his opportunities in close games also saw him fall to Japan’s world No. 13 Kenta Nishimoto and China’s world No. 4 Li Shifeng in the World Championships second round and Hong Kong Open quarter-finals respectively.
Men’s singles coach K. Yogendran admitted that his charge has to work on his cutting edge.
“Jun Hao is becoming more consistent in his game but he is still struggling with his finishing,” said Yogendran.
“Coach Kenneth (Jonassen) and I have tried to help him overcome this. Against Alwi, it was a 50-50 match.
“Overall, it was a good game from Jun Hao but we still need to help him come up with new strategies to win these types of close matches.”
Jun Hao’s defeat to Alwi meant that he has only made it past the early rounds twice in individual tournaments so far this year.
The world No. 20 Jun Hao’s best performance in his career so far came in the Japan Masters last year where he finished runners-up to Shifeng.
He will next have a short break from tournaments before returning to action in the Denmark Open from Oct 14-19 in Odense.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s challenge ended in the men’s singles at the Open when world No. 37 Justin Hoh lost 17-21, 11-21 to Denmark’s world No. 2 Anders Antonsen in the second round.
