PETALING JAYA: National junior head coach Jeffer Rosobin wants Ong Xin Yee and Oo Shan Zi (pic) to step up in the girls’ singles in the World Junior Championships in the absence of the country’s No. 1 Siti Zulaikha Azmi.
Zulaikha, who won bronze in the Asian Junior Championships in Yogyakarta in July, was ruled out of the world junior meet after failing to recover in time from a heel injury.
The 18-year-old’s absence is a blow to Malaysia’s chances of winning a medal in the girls’ singles but Jeffer is hoping Xin Yee or Shan Zi can spring a surprise.
Xin Yee and Shan Zi will both need to raise their game after failing to clear the early rounds in the Asian Juniors.
The former, though, did win bronze in the girl’s doubles with Carmen Ting while the latter stunned top seed and senior K. Letshanaa en route to capturing silver in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Sarawak in August.
“Zulaikha was in good form and won bronze in the Asian Juniors. I had hoped that she could recover before the World Juniors but unfortunately she could not make it,” said Jeffer.
“I want Xin Yee and Shan Zi to step up and fill the void left by Zulaikha. Both did not perform well in the Asian meet but have improved since then.
“They also gained experience from the Asian meet and are better prepared this time.
“For Xin Yee, she did better in the doubles in the Asian Juniors because she felt too much pressure in the singles and could not cope with it.
“She was overthinking and could not execute her shots well. The key for her this time is to handle the pressure well and play patiently.
“As for Shan Zi, I can see that she is more mature now and winning silver in the Sukma has given her a confidence boost.
“I hope both Xin Yee and Shan Zi will perform better this time,” added Jeffer.
The individual event in the World Juniors will be held from Oct 7-13 in Nanchang, China.
Meanwhile, both Xin Yee and Shan Zi continued their good start in the mixed team event by winning all their matches and helping Malaysia to a 110-61 win over Estonia in Group C yesterday.
It was the team’s third win in the group after they easily defeated Mongolia 110-48 and Norway 110-51 in their earlier matches.
Malaysia will play Holland in their last group match today.
Only the group winners will progress to the quarter-finals.
