PETALING JAYA: Rachel Arnold has been getting the ideal preparation for the World Women’s Open in Cairo (May 13-22) with the opportunity to train with former world No. 1 Joelle King of New Zealand in Bristol, England.
Rachel has been in Bristol for a week after her quarter-final defeat in the Irish Open in Dublin.
King, who won the Manchester Open two weeks ago, has been joined by Canadian world No. 17 Hollie Naughton and several English professional players in Bristol.
National head coach Ajaz Azmat said Rachel will get quality sessions in Bristol and expects her to perform well in the World Women’s Open.
“Rachel will gain quality training with King and Naughton and other professional players. She should use the stint to do well in the World Open,” said Ajaz yesterday.
“Last year, she got the opportunity to train in New York an did well in several tournaments after that to improve her world ranking to No. 31. I hope she can do the same this time.”
Bristol is also the training base of top men’s player Ng Eain Yow. The world No. 20 is coached there by Hadrian Stiff and Shorbagy siblings Mohamed (No. 3) and Marwan (No. 7) of Egypt are his training mates.
Rachel has been in England for almost a month.
She partnered S. Sivasangari to win a bronze medal in the World Doubles Championships early this month before testing positive for Covid-19 which forced her out of the Manchester Open.
However, she recovered quickly to play in the Irish Open and has not looked back after that.
Besides the World Women’s Open, Rachel will also play in the El Gouna Open in Egypt from May 27-June 3.
Rachel and Eain Yow will be joined by Sivasangari, Ivan Yuen and Aifa Azman in the World Open in Cairo.
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