PETALING JAYA: Women’s singles shuttler K. Letshanaa is taking her Malaysian Masters exit as a learning step to boost her progress on the international stage.
The 22-year-old’s good run at the home tournament ended in the quarter-finals after she lost to Japan’s world No. 24 Hina Akechi 21-19, 12-21, 21-10 to deny her chance of making the final four at the Unifi Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Despite the defeat, world No. 32 Letshanaa took encouragement from what was another promising outing for her, where she stunned world No. 9 Tomoka Miyazaki in the second round, which was her first win against a current top 10 player.
“It’s a learning process because every time I play against top players, it’s a good experience for me,” she said.
“I believe that one day I can surely make a big breakthrough.
“But more importantly, I need to learn from my mistakes and keep the momentum going, and be consistent.”
She hopes to get her chance to compete at higher-level tournaments in the future.
“It will be good exposure for me to compete at bigger tournaments because I have not played them yet. My highest right now is the Super 500.
“So I’m quite excited because the draw will be tough for those tournaments with the top 32 players.
“But I need to maintain my ranking because staying at the top is not easy and I have to perform well in tournaments,” she said.
Another big challenge awaits Letshanaa next week when she is set to meet China’s former Olympic champion Chen Yufei in the opening round of the Singapore Open.
“It will be another good experience for me to face Yufei, it will be a valuable lesson,” she said.
