PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttler Cheng Su Yin (pic) was initially fearful when she was teamed up with Hoo Pang Ron a year ago.
“He had that fierce look. In fact, before I was named as his partner, I had never spoken to him. And as a junior, I was so anxious and scared,” said the 21-year-old Su Yin.
But her early impression about Pang Ron was unfounded as he has turned out to be her best partner – on and off the badminton court.
In just a year, Su Yin-Pang Ron have made it to the No. 21 spot in the world and are currently, the fourth best pair in the country after Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (No. 6), Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie (No. 7) and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (No. 20).
Bubbly Su Yin attributes the fast progress to the 26-year-old Pang Ron and coach Nova Widianto’s constant support and encouragement.
Nova fielded them in their first tournament at the Korean Masters in November last year and since then they have only become better and better in every tournament.
“It has been quite an eventful year for me with Pang Ron and I’m enjoying our journey together. I can be rather timid but Pang Ron has taught me to be brave,” said Su Yin.
“He is like a big brother and has really been nice on and off the court. I’m glad we are able to complement one another well now.”
Su Yin however agrees with Pang Ron that she should be more courageous on court.
“I look at Ee Wei and our former international Goh Liu Ying. They are daring and do not fear their opponents. I’m also learning to face our opponents without showing them too much respect.”
The small-sized Su Yin has been a great revelation this year with her fast-paced movement and control at the front court, and has often caught opponents off guard with her clever shots.
“There have been some good performances for us but the best is the China Masters, a Super 750 tournament. We had beaten several top ranked pairs,” said Su Yin, beaming with pride.
They had shocked China’s world No. 2 Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin in the second round and knocked out Hong Kong’s top pair and world No. 5 Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet before going down fighting to China’s world No. 1 Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping in the final. Su Yin got off to a humble start in the sport with her twin sister Su Hui in Alor Setar, Kedah.
“My sister and I were seven when my father encouraged us to play the sport and I remember we went to the Tan Kuan Badminton Academy for our first exposure. We didn’t stop after that,” she said.
Both were called up for state training and eventually, it was Su Hui who first joined the Badminton Association of Malaysia junior programme at 13.
“She stayed there for a year and returned home. And only when both us were 16, we got into BAM together,” she said.
Now that she is focused in the mixed doubles, Su Yin hopes to be like her idol Dongping.
“She is a top notch player. I love to see her play. She is fearless and fantastic. I hope to be good like her,” said Su Yin.
On her plans for next year, Su Yin said: “This is just our first year, and we have so much more to learn. We want to keep improving in every game, and hope to qualify for our first World Championships,” added Su Yin, who has one title under with Pang Ron – the 2023 Malaysian International Challenge.
