PETALING JAYA: Leong Jun Hao may have bowed out of the Indonesian Open in the second round, but the national men’s singles shuttler believes there were enough positives to take from his performance in Jakarta.
Jun Hao’s campaign came to an end after he went down 16-21, 15-21 to France’s Alex Lanier, who arrived in Indonesia fresh from winning the Singapore Open title last week.
Despite the defeat, the Malaysian showed signs of improvement as he pushed Lanier throughout the match and produced a far more confident display than in some of his recent outings.
The encouraging performance came after Jun Hao stunned world No. 11 Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the opening round, a result that appeared to restore some of the confidence he had been lacking.
It was also the kind of response Jun Hao was hoping to deliver after recently coming under scrutiny following disciplinary issues within the national squad.
“Something positive is that I managed to play my own game today. Maybe there were a few points and situations where I didn’t adjust well enough,” said Jun Hao in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“He’s been on a good run since Singapore, so fighting for every point against him was tough. But I managed to do my best.
“I’ll take the positives from this and continue with this kind of mindset. I think things will get better.”
Meanwhile, K. Letshanaa’s hopes of reaching her first Super 1000 quarter-final came to an end after she was beaten 15-21, 18-21 by Japan’s third seed Akane Yamaguchi.
