PETALING JAYA: It will take some time before national men’s singles shuttler Justin Hoh (pic) finds his footing at the professional level of the badminton scene, says coach K. Yogendran.
Yogendran, who was moved from the women’s singles camp to the men’s singles department in October, said Justin has been progressing well throughout the year.
However, as Justin is only 20 years old, inexperience still plays a role now that he is competing in the big leagues with the best shuttlers from across the world.
“I would say that Justin has been progressing well. But at the same time, I will say that he is still inexperienced to take this pressure.
“He is still young, and we should not be pressuring him because we want to be able to let him grow by himself.
“That’s because in Malaysia we have limited players and we put too much pressure on them to say they are the next champions.
“That’s too much pressure on these boys, they are so young. They are having to not think about playing badminton but having to think about all these negative things at the back of their mind,” he said.
Yogendran said things will be rough before they get better, as the main focus is to prepare Justin for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“Justin will still be shaky for the next six to eight months because he’s playing at a higher level now.
“But once he settles down and gets comfortable, then we can see his performance on the graph start to rise again,” he said.
Yogendran added that the best lesson for Justin at this point of his career can only come from losses on the court, which is bound to happen for a young rising player such as himself.
“Learning is a process, when you lose, you learn. With that process, you can be a great champion. But taking shortcuts in all these efforts will only bring you one or two titles, the rest won’t be the same.
“After discussing with the other coaches, we have decided that we want Justin to go through the process of learning, to deal with loss and overcome those feelings,” he said.
