Malaysia men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao in action.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao’s runner-up finish in the Japan Masters is a boost to the national men’s singles team and coach K. Yogendran hopes for more of the same.
Yogendran, who was moved from the women’s singles department to the men’s singles last month, did well to guide Jun Hao to his first World Tour Super 500 final.
Jun Hao went down to China’s world No. 9 Li Shifeng in the final but did well to topple a host of higher ranked players including world No. 4 homester Kodai Naraoka and Indonesia’s world No. 6 Jonatan Christie.
The world No. 31 showed that he has found his feet under Yogendran after initially struggling since the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) coaching changes.
Hendrawan left the BAM while Datuk Tey Seu Bock was moved to coach the junior men’s singles team.
Yogendran credited both the coaches for their work in guiding Jun Hao to where he is now.
“Congratulations to Jun Hao and our entire men’s singles team. It’s always good to see our players performing well, especially when they play their best and the result falls into place,” said Yogendran via social media.
“I hope this will be the beginning of more awesome badminton performances from our singles department. We will keep striving hard every day to bring our best to the courts.
“Thank you to our former and current singles coaches. It is a teamwork.”
Jun Hao was the first men’s singles player in the BAM to reach a final in a World Tour competition this year.
The BAM have been struggling to develop singles players capable of challenging in higher level tourneys since former No. 1 in the national team Ng Tze Yong injured his back in January and went through two surgeries.
Tze Yong has been ruled out for the rest of the year and it is still uncertain when he will return to competitions.
Jun Hao, who is now BAM’s No. 1, showed signs of his capabilities in Tze Yong’s absence when he helped Malaysia win bronze in the Thomas Cup Finals in May and finally broke into the world’s top 32 not long after.
The 2017 Asian Junior champion has caught the eye with his fighting spirit on court and has vowed to be more consistent moving forward.
Jun Hao, who is expected to move into the world’s top 30 after his fine outing in Japan, will compete in the China Masters starting today in Shenzhen.
He will play Japan’s world No. 33 Takuma Obayashi in the first round in what will be his last tournament of the year.
