PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao has got his mojo back after suffering a loss of form due to changes in the coaching set-up.
Jun Hao continued his giantkilling run in the Japan Masters when he fought brilliantly to take down home favourite and world No. 4 Kodai Naraoka 21-17, 9-21, 21-16 in a 80-minute marathon match in Kumamoto yesterday.
It was sweet revenge for the world No. 31 after losing to Naraoka in the second round of the Japan Open in August.
Jun Hao also stunned India’s world No. 17 Lakshya Sen and another homester Koki Watanabe in the first and second round respectively.
The 25-year-old has made it into his maiden World Tour Super 500 semi-finals and will take on Indonesia’s world No. 6 Jonatan Christie for a place in the final.
Jonatan prevented an all-Malaysian semi match after knocking out world No. 7 Lee Zii Jia 12-21, 21-18, 21-18 in 64 minutes. The independent player was comfortably leading 11-7 in the second game but could not maintain his performance.
The day certainly belonged to Jun Hao who has superbly turned around his form after suffering early exits in his past six outings.
He said that his struggles were down to having to adapt to the changes in the Badminton Association’s (BAM) coaching structure and he is starting to find his feet again.
Jun Hao saw coach Hendrawan leave BAM last month while Datuk Tey Seu Bock was moved to the junior men’s singles team.
Since then, the 2017 Asian Junior champion has been training under K. Yogendran, who was moved from the women’s singles team.
“I just kept my focus and prepared well for this tournament after I lost in the early rounds in a few tournaments before this,” said Jun Hao.
“The sudden changes in coaches distracted me for a short period of time and as a result, I underperformed.
“Now, I am adapting to my new coach and coming back to the right track. Against Naraoka, I executed my game plan well.
“I have beaten a few top players this year but this is my best result so far. Hopefully, I can bring out my best game again tomorrow (today),” added Jun Hao.
Meanwhile, Yogendran was happy with the improvement from his charge.
“Jun Hao played well today (yesterday). He is getting more mature and confident,” said Yogendran.
“The key to his improvement in this tournament is his never-say-die attitude. He is fighting for every point and not giving up.
“He will try to be more consistent after this. Jonatan is the better player but I want Jun Hao to give his best.”
Based on the rankings, Jonatan will start as the favourite but both players are evenly matched based on the head-to-head records.
