PETALING JAYA: Successful shuttlers are often praised for being “fearless” in pursuing their goals.
And national coaching director Rexy Mainaky wants men’s doubles shuttlers Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi to be exactly that – adopt a fearless attitude.
Roy King-Arif may face China’s top pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang again in the All-England starting tomorrow in Birmingham.
Roy King-Arif were awestruck against Weikeng-Wang Chang at the Orleans Masters and went down tamely 14-21, 13-21 in the semi-finals at the Palais des Sports in France on Saturday.
Based on the draw, the world No. 18 Roy King-Arif could face the Paris Olympic Games silver medal winners Weikeng-Wang Chang as early as the second round if they overcome another Chinese pair Huang Di-Liu Yang in their opening match.
Rexy Mainaky wants Roy King-Arif to be fearless if they meet Weikeng-Wang Chang again in Birmingham.
“I’m satisfied with Roy King-Arif’s performance until the quarter-finals in Orleans. But against the Chinese pair, they tried to force all their shots to be perfect and ended up making many mistakes,” said Rexy.
“In the All-England, they need to be braver as they have nothing to lose. I hope they will get to play this pair again as we have already analysed where they went wrong against them.”
Meanwhile, men’s doubles coach Herry Iman Pierngadi believes Roy King-Arif need to gain more experience against the world’s top 10 pairs to continue their progress.
“Roy King-Arif’s performance in Orleans is not bad. For a young pair, they are getting more consistent,” said Herry.
“They need more time competing in the World Tour Super 300 and above tourneys to face more top 10 pairs.”
The semi-final finish in Orleans was Roy King-Arif’s first since the Malaysian Masters last May and a timely boost ahead of the All-England where they will be making their debuts.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Alex Lanier (Fra) bt Nhat Nguyen (Irl) 21-19, 21-18; Lin Chun-yi (Tpe) bt Ayush Shetty (Ind) 21-13, 21-15.
Men’s doubles: Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi (Mas) 21-14, 21-13; Kang Min-hyuk-Ki Dong-ju (Kor) bt Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho (Kor) 21-8, 9-21, 21-19.
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Gao Fangjie (Chn) 20-22, 21-7, 21-14; Chen Yufei (Chn) Zhang Beiwen (US) 15-21, 21-13, 21-12.
Women’s doubles: Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) bt Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian (Chn) 19-21, 21-9, 21-15; Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) bt Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) 21-16, ret.
Mixed doubles: Rehan Naufal-Gloria Emanuelle (Ina) bt Lee Jong-min-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) 21-16, 18-21, 21-13; Jasper Toft-Amelie Magelund (Den) Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat (Tha) 21-12, 21-16.
