THE unusual schedule for the individual badminton competition at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games appeared to have taken a toll on several Malaysian players yesterday.
And it saw early exits of both mixed doubles pairs of Chen Tang Jie-Cheng Su Yin and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie in the early rounds at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Aichi.
Tang Jie-Su Yin and Soon Huat-Shevon, had to play twice on the same day with less than four hours between their matches.
Tang Jie-Su Yin started well by beating Bangladesh’s Al Amin Jumar-Urmi Akter 21-14, 21-9 in the first round
However, they were back on court later in the afternoon to face South Korea’s Kim Jae-hyun-Jang Ha-jeong for a place in the quarter-finals and were pushed all the way before losing 16-21, 22-20, 19-21.
It was a similar story for Soon Huat-Shevon, who comfortably disposed of Taiwan’s Yang Po-hsuan-Hu Ling-fang 21-14, 21-11 in their opening match.
The husband-and-wife pair then returned to court less than four hours later against India’s Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto but saw their campaign end with a narrow 20-22, 22-24 defeat.
The loss was particularly disappointing for Soon Huat-Shevon as this is set to be their final appearance at the Asian Games.
Meanwhile, men’s singles shuttler Justin Hoh received a walkover into the second round after Thailand’s Panitchapon Teeraratsakul withdrew due to a back injury.
Panitchapon said he had suffered the injury during the team event and had only two to three days to recover before the start of the individual competition.
“I tried until the very last moment, but I am not 100% fit and I don’t think I would be able to go on court and perform at my best.
“So I decided to withdraw to avoid making the injury worse. I would like to apologise to everyone who has been waiting to cheer for and support me,” Panitchapon said in a statement on social media.
Justin will face Bangladesh’s Gourab Singha in the second round for a place in the third round.
There was no such luck for women’s singles shuttler K. Letshanaa, whose campaign ended in the first round after a 13-21, 13-21 defeat to Taiwan’s Chiu Pin-chian.
