PETALING JAYA: Being the national No. 1 has its ups and downs but women’s singles shuttler K. Letshanaa is embracing her role with the right mindset.
The 21-year-old hopes to live up to the billing in the Malaysian Masters starting on Tuesday at the Unifi Arena in Bukit Jalil.
Letshanaa recently achieved a career high world No. 32 before dropping one rung in the latest world rankings.
She moved up after putting in several encouraging performances as Malaysia’s first singles during the Uber Cup Finals in Horsens, Denmark two weeks ago.
Although pleased with her progress, Letshanaa believes there is still plenty of room for improvement despite now leading the national women’s singles squad.
“I feel excited to play on home ground in front of the Malaysian crowd and I want to give my best and keep fighting until the end, so that’s my goal.
“Actually, we don’t really set targets like reaching certain rankings or stages. The goal is to keep improving in every match,” said Letshanaa.
She is also happy to see the efforts put in by the women’s singles players beginning to pay off after the department was previously regarded as one of the weaker divisions in the national team.
“It feels quite good that I can inspire others and that the fighting spirit we are showing can give confidence to other upcoming players. So that’s a good thing that we’re showing right now,” she added.
Letshanaa has been drawn against Denmark’s Amalie Schulz, who beat her when they last met at the Orleans Masters last year.
Meanwhile, fellow Malaysian Wong Ling Ching faces a tough opening round test against seventh seed Nguyen Thuy Linh of Vietnam.
Another Malaysian, Goh Jin Wei, will take on fourth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand.
