PETALING JAYA: Leong Jun Hao (pic) may still be searching for consistency, but Kenneth Jonassen remains convinced that the national No. 1 is still Malaysia’s strongest men’s singles option.
Jun Hao suffered another early exit at the China Masters after going down 17-21, 19-21 to Indonesia’s world No. 1 Jonatan Christie.
Jonassen admitted the 27-year-old could have done better, but still saw positives in the defeat and felt there were signs of improvement in his game.
“Overall, I’m seeing the performance improving. However, you need to win more than one match in a tournament to get to the quarter-finals, where it starts to get interesting,” said Jonassen.
“When you play in Super 750, 500 or 1000 tournaments, especially at the 750 and 1000 level, once you reach the quarter-finals, you are probably among the best eight players in the world that week.
“That is where we like to measure ourselves. So I see some positives, but he still has not really managed to put together two wins in a row in a tournament.
“But it is the small steps that keep me positive. The results are what make me question whether we can reach that level.
“I’m not talking about doing it consistently week after week because I don’t think that is within his capacity.
“But there should be weeks where he can reach that level in terms of performance and consistency, which means getting to the quarter-finals and hopefully even further.
Jonassen also believes Jun Hao has shown a positive response since receiving a warning letter over disciplinary issues and does not see his place in the national squad as being under threat for now.
However, he wants Jun Hao to translate his improved commitment in training into better results after several close matches ended in narrow defeats.
Jun Hao is now gearing up for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games from Sept 19-Oct 4, where he will feature in both the men’s team and individual events alongside Justin Hoh.
