PETALING JAYA: While October proved to be a memorable month for the national doubles shuttlers, the opposite was true for women’s singles player K. Letshanaa.
Her recent campaign was marred by consecutive first round exits at the Denmark Open and French Open, marking nine consecutive early exits for the 23-year-old.
She last reached the quarter-finals in May at the Malaysian Masters.
However, national singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen remains hopeful that the Korean Open from tommorrow will help turn her fortunes.
“Losing to higher-ranked players is part of competition,” said Kenneth.
“As long as she learns from each defeat, then she can move forward.
“The performances from the doubles department was indeed very impressive.
“It was very inspiring. Let’s see what the singles can accomplish in South Korea.”
Letshanaa, ranked 27th in the world, will have a relatively easy start in her opening match at Yeosu City against 18-year-old Tonrug Saeheng of Thailand.
Though they have never played each other before, Letshanaa’s experience is expected to prove decisive against the world No. 68.
Unfortunately, the 10th-seeded Letshanaa is on a collision course to meet South Korea’s world No. 1 An Se-young in the second round.
The 24-year-old Se-young has already won 11 titles this year and will be looking to add a third career Korean Open crown to her collection, following her victories in 2022 and 2023.
Letshanaa previously fell to the South Korean at last year’s Open, one of her four career defeats against her.
World No. 40 Wong Ling Ching will take on Indonesia’s world No. 65 Thalita Wiryawan. Ling Ching holds a 2-1 advantage over the Indonesian in their three meetings so far.
In the men’s singles, Eogene Ewe is the sole member of the national team. The world No. 85 will have to navigate the qualifiers to join the main draw.
Independent player Cheam June Wei will also be looking to make it out of the qualifiers.
