With more time under coach Kenneth, Leong says he can turn around his game
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Leong Jun Hao insisted that he is on the right path under coach Kenneth Jonassen despite a difficult year so far.
Jun Hao has suffered early round exits in all his individual tournaments in the men's singles this year except in the Singapore Open last month where he made it to the quarter-finals.
Yesterday, the 26-year-old showed signs of positivity when he pulled off an impressive win over world No. 13 Kenta Nishimoto in the China Open first round to set up a mouth-watering match-up against reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand tomorrow.
Nishimoto narrowly denied Jun Hao in the Swiss Open second round in March but the latter gained sweet revenge by claiming a 21-15, 21-18 victory in 45 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Changzhou.
The world No. 26 Jun Hao is confident that with more time under Jonassen, he can turn around his form.
Jonassen only joined the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in January and has been working on moulding Jun Hao into a more consistent player.
'Kenneth and I are working well together but I guess we still need some time to add some new technique to my game,' said Jun Hao in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
'Playing against different styles, we need a little bit more time to get our strategies right.
'Kenneth focuses more on technique and mindset and he has helped me so far. We just need to keep going.'
The win against Nishimoto was much needed for the 2017 Asian Junior Champion after his tame first-round defeat at the hands of world No. 9 Frenchman Alex Lanier in the Japan Open in Tokyo last week.
'I managed to control the draught in the stadium quite well. The conditions here are quite tricky as the draught is quite strong,' said Jun Hao.
'For sure, this win makes me more confident. I need to prepare well to face Kunlavut next. I will focus on rest and recovery first before trying to come up with a plan against him.'
Jun Hao knows he needs to raise his game against Kunlavut after losing to the latter in straight games in the Singapore Open.
The world No. 1 Thai also came out on top in his home Open last year while Jun Hao's sole win over Kunlavut in senior tournaments came in the Austrian Open in 2018.
Meanwhile, in the men's doubles, Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian suffered an early exit after going down 11-21, 10-21 to Indonesia's Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri.
RESULTS
(Malaysians only)
First round
Men's singles: Leong Jun Hao bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 21-15, 21-18.
Men's doubles: Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri (Ina) bt Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian 21-11, 21-10.
Mixed doubles: Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei bt Presley Smith-Jennie Gai (US) 22-20, 21-12; Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien bt Rohan Kapoor-Ruthvika Gadde (Ind) before prevailing 25-27, 21-16, 21-14; Gao Jiaxuan-Wu Mengying (Chn) bt Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin 21-15, 21-16.
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