Coincidence or what?: Soon Huat-Shevon will likely have to take on Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran for the third time in a row.
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are unhappy with their draw in the Asian Championships from April 8-13 in Ningbo, China, as they will likely have to take on Thailand’s Dechapol Puava-ranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran for the third time in a row in the second round.
World No. 3 Soon Huat-Shevon had to play against rising pair Dechapol-Supissara in the back-to-back All-England and Swiss Open earlier this month and also in the Malaysian Open in January.
The husband and wife pair lost to the Thai duo in the home Open semi-finals and in the Swiss Open last eight but defeated them in the All-England first round.
The pairs also locked horns in the Arctic Open second round last October and Japan Masters last four in November with Soon Huat-Shevon winning the former and Dechapol-Supissara triumphing in the latter.
Shevon has questioned the frequency in which the two pairs have been drawn against each other.
“I have some questions with the drawing system. It’s three tournaments in a row now that we’ve been drawn with the Thai pair,” said Shevon.
“We can’t say it’s unfair as they (Badminton World Federation) would say it’s drawn by system but of course we will feel there is some imbalance in the system.
‘‘It will not be a coincidence that we would be facing them consecutively.”
Shevon though conceded that she and Soon Huat cannot do anything about the draw and have to focus on their preparations for the tournament.
“There’s nothing much that we can do about it,” said Shevon.
“We’ll take it one round at a time, prepare ourselves and do our best on court.”
Soon Huat-Shevon have been quite consistent lately and have not failed to reach at least the quarter-finals in all their individual competitions so far this year and are keen to continue their encouraging form in the Asian meet.
Before their possible meeting with world No. 13 Dechapol-Supissara, the independent pair will open their campaign against India’s K. Sathish Kumar-Aadya Variyath.
Meanwhile, the Thais will play a pair from the qualifying rounds in their opening match.
