KUALA LUMPUR: China’s women’s singles shuttler Han Yue is living in her own world.
World No. 8 Han Yue does not want to be overly involved in the healthy rivalry with her teammate and world No. 6 He Bingjiao to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Each country can be represented by two shuttlers if both are ranked in the top 16 in the world rankings.
With world No. 2 Chen Yufei almost guaranteed a spot, it will be a toss-up between Bingjiao and Han Yue for the second spot.
Han Yue is 3,566 points behind Bingjiao but she wants to focus more on improving her performance instead of thinking too much about her opponent.
“For me, regardless of whether I qualify or not, the qualification period is a process that I have to go through and perform well,” said the 24-year-old Han Yue.
“The process is more important than the outcome, so I’m not worried about making the cut for the Olympics or not. I believe that focusing on myself is more important because the competition with other shuttlers does not serve any purpose in motivating me to perform better.
“It all depends on my desires ... if I want something, I will go all out to achieve it. So my target for this year is to play well in every match and tournament, enjoy the process and give my best effort ... then, the outcome will be positive.”
Han Yue started her Malaysian Open campaign on a positive note after delivering her A-game to defeat Indonesia’s world No. 32 Putri Kusuma 21-11, 21-13 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Han Yue has set her sights on facing world No. 1 An Se-young of South Korea in the quarter-finals but she first needs to overcome her second-round hurdle against world No. 22 Yeo Jia Min of Singapore today.
Jia Min outplayed Canada’s world No. 24 Michelle Li 21-9, 21-14 in another first-round match.
Despite holding a higher rank than Jia Min, Han Yue is not underestimating her opponent.
“My performance (in the first round) was quite good,” said Han Yue.
“It was my first match and I’m well-prepared for it, so I managed to remain focused and kept my guard up throughout the match.
“It will be a tough match tomorrow (today). In our last meeting (against Jia Min in the China Masters last November), I secured a narrow victory so this time, I want to be ready for the possibility of losing.”
