PETALING JAYA: Eat well and sleep well.
That was the answer given by China’s women’s doubles pair Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan as to the secret to their consistent performance.
Last year was a fruitful season for Qingchen-Yifan as they claimed the German Open (March), Asian Championships (May), Indonesian Masters (June), Malaysian Masters (July), World Championships (August), Denmark Open (October) and World Tour Finals last month.
They maintained their fine form to beat South Korea’s Baek Ha-na-Lee Yu-lim 21-16, 21-10 to be the newly-crowned Malaysian Open champions on Sunday.
Yifan believed that everything is possible as long as they are healthy.
“I think why we could put up a good performance consistently was because we eat and sleep more compared to other athletes,” quipped Yifan.
“Health is very important, so we need to get enough rest and take good care of ourselves.
“There’s nothing more important than going on court with a healthy body.”
Qingchen-Yifan played against defending champions Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia of Indonesia in the Malaysian Open semi-finals but the Indonesian pair had to retire from the game as Siti injured her ankle following a fall in the second game.
Yifan admitted they were heartbroken to see that scenario.
“It is true that we are opponents on court, but as an athlete, we really didn’t want that to happen.”
Qingchen believed that it is better for them to win and lose in some tournaments instead of winning all.
“At least we can put our heads together to think of a solution when we lost and try our best to win together.
“It is quite scary if we keep winning because we wouldn’t know when someone will beat us and we won’t be able to bounce back and keep losing,” she said.
Qingchen-Yifan will open their Indian Open campaign against Supissara Paewsampran-Puttita Supajirakul of Indonesia today.
