Clicking well: Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin are now ranked 29th in the world after good performances in three tournaments last month.
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Cheng Su Yin’s hunger and willingness to learn could see her become the ideal partner for Hoo Pang Ron in the mixed doubles.
The 26-year-old Pang Ron has been combined with Cheah Yee See, Toh Ee Wei and Teoh Mei Xing in the past but have not managed to become a top pair with either of them.
There are signs though that Su Yin, 21, could bring out the very best in Pang Ron and vice-versa.
Pang Ron has been impressed with his younger partner’s attitude so far.
“I can see that Su Yin is doing very well. She’s improving and she is willing to learn a lot,” said Pang Ron.
“She is very hardworking and she pushes herself a lot as she does not want to disappoint me.
“I definitely want to go further with her than I managed with my previous partners. I think it’s possible for me to do better with her.”
Pang Ron-Su Yin were combined at the end of last year and have begun to click after an inconsistent start.
The pair reached back-to-back quarter-finals in the Hong Kong and China Opens last month before making it to the last four of the Macau Open.
In Macau, Pang Ron-Su Yin pulled off an impressive win over Hong Kong’s world No. 8 Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet in the quarter-finals before going down fighting in three games to Indonesia’s world No. 11 Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emmanuelle.
Their good form helped them move up to No. 29 in the latest rankings.
Pang Ron is happy with his progress with Su Yin but believes that the pair still have room for improvement.
“Our confidence level has increased but there’s a lot more to work on court,” said Pang Ron.
“We have more to learn and we need to communicate more, so that everything gets better for us.
“We want to try different strategies and not just rely on one type of playing style.
“We also have more discussions with our coaches and we are becoming more solid.
“There’s improvement in terms of our game play and consistency but we still need to do better especially during the crucial points in matches.
“We want to keep fighting to break into the top 20 as soon as possible,” added Pang Ron.
Pang Ron-Su Yin will be in action in the Arctic Open which starts today in Vantaa, Finland.
The pair will take on China’s Macau Open champions and world No. 27 Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui of China in the first round.
The other Malaysians in the fray in the mixed doubles are Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow.
