Tough luck: Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri skipped the Syed Modi India International due to injury.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hong Jian are hoping to avoid a repeat of the injury nightmare that plagued their start of this year when 2026 comes along.
Haikal was ruled out of all tournaments for the first four months this year including the Malaysian Open in January due to a hip injury before making his competitive return with Hon Jian in May.
This time, Hon Jian is sweating over an injury to his abdomen and is facing a nervous wait to see if he can recover in time for the home Open from Jan 6-11 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
“Hon Jian has suffered a recurrence of the injury that forced us to miss a few tournaments last month,” said Haikal after training without his partner at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
“He initially suffered a five centimetre tear in his abdominal muscle during the Arctic Open in Finland.
“We had to miss a few tournaments, then he told me he was feeling better and we returned to play in the Japan Masters and Australian Open over the past two weeks.
“But he still had taping over the injured area and had to take painkillers.
“Then, while competing in Australia, he had pain in another area of his abdomen.
“He has gone for tests to check the extent of the injury. Hopefully, it’s not too serious and he can recover fully in time for the Malaysian Open,” added Haikal.
The injury has forced Haikal-Hon Jian out of the Syed Modi India International which started yesterday in Lucknow.
Overall, injuries have disrupted the pair’s momentum this year and Haikal is hoping for better fortunes next year.
Haikal-Hon Jian were ranked as high as No. 18 in the world in 2024 but dropped out of the top 32 due to their fitness issues.
Currently ranked No. 34 in the world, the pair are aiming to climb back to where they were in 2024 next year.
“It’s not easy to come back after each injury setback but we have also learned a lot this year. We were once ranked in the top 20 but we dropped below 50 this year due to fitness issues,” said Haikal.
“We are hoping for better times next year. We want to get back to where we were last year. We also want to win titles again.”
Haikal-Hon Jian’s last title was the World Tour Super 300 Orleans Masters in March last year.
