PETALING JAYA: Men's singles shuttler Eogene Ewe hopes to build on the momentum from his good Macau Open run when he makes his Taiwan Open debut on Wednesday (July 29).
Eogene believes reaching his first semi-final of the year in Macau last month has given him the confidence to take on another tough challenge in Taipei.
The world No. 80 upstaged several higher-ranked opponents, including Hong Kong's world No. 37 Jason Gunawan, compatriot Cheam June Wei (No. 71) and Singapore's Teh Jia Heng (No. 29).
Eogene is hoping for more of the same when he takes on India's world No. 74 Saneeth Dayanand in the opening round at the Taipei Arena.
A win would likely set up a meeting with home favourite Chou Tien-chen, who made history by capturing the China Open title last week.
"That has been a really good experience for me. I've been playing against top-30 and top-50 players throughout the tournament, so it was a big challenge.
"I think I did well and it's given me a lot of motivation because I feel I've improved a lot from that tournament.
"When I get back, I'll look at where I fell short. I'll watch my matches again and identify the areas I need to improve," said Eogene.
Eogene is also in high spirits after earning a place in Malaysia's squad for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya this September.
Compatriot Justin Hoh will also be in action but faces a stern opening-round test against fifth seed Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Lee Zii Jia opens his campaign against Taiwan's Liao Jhuo-fu.
There will be no additional Malaysian men's singles players in the main draw after Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin and Cheam June Wei were eliminated in the qualifying rounds on Tuesday (July 28).
Aidil lost 16-21, 21-19, 16-21 to South Korea's Choi Ji-hoon, while June Wei, fresh from winning the Lin Dan Cup title, went down 21-15, 14-21, 19-21 to Taiwan's Hung Ping-hsien.
