PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttler Mohd Haikal Nazri has defended himself, explaining that he genuinely suffered a right ankle injury and did not deliberately make excuses to skip the Swiss Open this week.
This comes after national men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi expressed his displeasure over the decision by Haikal and his partner, Choong Hon Jian, to withdraw from the tournament.
The Indonesian coach also issued a firm warning that he would not waste time on players who refuse to follow instructions, stressing that there are many other men’s doubles pairs in the national squad who are eager for his guidance.
For Haikal, the decision was not an easy one, as he admitted he is still dealing with lingering fear after previously suffering a series of injuries.
“This is an old injury and I felt it again during training at the All-England Open. I twisted my ankle and informed the coach (Herry) that I might not be able to perform at my best if I continued to compete in the Swiss Open.“I always say that it is not about winning or losing. I just do not want to go through injuries again. I have experienced it before, and the recovery process took a long time. When it happened again, especially after I had already suffered ankle injuries twice, I decided to skip the Swiss Open because the fear is still there,” said Haikal on Saturday (March 14).
