PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin is still lacking maturity and stability in his game despite making strides forward this year.
This was independent coach Nova Armada’s assessment after seeing Aidil surprisingly lose to Finland’s world No. 54 Joakim Oldorff in the Al Ain Masters final in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
The world No. 40 player looked good to win his first World Tour title after taking the first game 21-14 but ran out of gas, eventually losing 17-21, 7-21.
Nova rued a missed opportunity for Aidil.
“Aidil is still lacking experience and maturity. His performance in the final showed that his game is still not stable,” said Nova.
“Normally, reaching the final can be considered satisfactory but this is an opponent that he should have beaten.
“No disrespect to Oldorff but he should have done better against him.
“He should not have lost in this manner especially in the third game where he seemed to forget how to play.
“His game was not even at 60% in the decider,” added Nova.
Aidil had beaten India’s former world No. 1 K. Srikanth in the semis.
While it was not the triumphant end that the 25-year-old was hoping for, he can still take the positives from his overall showing.
Aidil, who was axed by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) last year due to lack of results, remains on track under Nova to break into the world’s top 32 rankings which will grant him access to Super 750 and 1000 competitions.
His next assignment is the Malaysian Super 100 from Oct 14-19 in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
