PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles head coach Nova Widianto hopes a little extra preparation time will benefit Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei for their charge at the All-England next month.
Nova said the world No. 4 pair will be sitting out the German Open from Feb 24-March 1, giving them more time to prepare for Birmingham from March 3-8.
"For the All-England, I feel more time preparing is needed. Sometimes there could be unexpected delays, or injuries. So more time would be good," said Nova.
"We have spoken to the players and decided that we would head straight for the All-England."
Although competing at the Super 300 tournament in Germany would have been a good warm-up, Nova said the turnaround would be too tight for the players.
"We have to look at the players’ condition. Because if we make it to the German Open final, we would return Sunday night or Monday morning. And the All-England starts on Tuesday.
"So I think the best option is to go directly to the All-England because we have also spoken to the players on it," he said.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei did not go far at last year’s All-England at the Utilita Arena as the second seeds crashed out in the opening round after losing to Indonesia’s Rehan Kusharjanto-Gloria Widjaja.
Nova hopes to see Tang Jie and Ee Wei go further this time.
"I don’t want to say that we will be champions yet, but we want to see the best result.
"Last year it wasn’t very good, so we hope this year there are improvements.
"We just don’t want a situation where we start well in the first round, then fall to a lower-ranked pair in the second round.
"But sometimes that’s how badminton tournaments go. So their focus is going to be important regardless of how things go," he said.
Last year, China’s Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui clinched the title after they defeated compatriots Feng Yanzhe-Wei Yaxin.
