Shuttlers play the confidence game

can make or break a player. And for several Malaysian shuttlers, it is vital to their career revival.

Independent shuttler, Liew Daren yesterday confirmed his withdrawal from the Macau Open which starts today while national women’s singles shuttler, Lee Ying Ying is hoping for a breakthrough win after a string of poor performances.

Daren, 31, has suffered a dip in form since reaching the semi-finals of the World Championships in Nanjing in August while Ying Ying has not played in an Open tournament for more than two months.

At the recent French Open in Paris, Daren crashed out in the first round, making it three in a row since the Taiwan Open earlier this month.

The 2012 French Open champion said: “My confidence level has dropped since the Asian Games (Indonesia). I have been struggling with my game during tournaments.

“I think I need to spend more time training than competing in tournaments.

“As a result, I have decided to pull out of the Macau Open to focus on the China Open in November.

“Like I have mentioned in the past, I am trying my best to collect ranking points but sometimes it affects the performance of a player.

“When you play in too many tournaments, you do not have enough time to recover physically and mentally.”

Just last week, national doubles shuttler, Goh Liu Ying, also expressed her concerns playing in too many tournaments.

Apart from Daren, the other men’s singles players who have withdrawn from the Macau Open are Lee Zii Jia, Soong Joo Ven and Leong Jun Hao.

Ying Ying, who only returned to competitive action this month, hopes to catch up with her more prominent teammates, Goh Jin Wei and Soniia Cheah.

The 21-year-old Perak born, who won two silver medals in the Malaysia Games in September, wants to end the year on a good note.

The national No 3 shuttler will open her campaign in the first round of the Macau Open on Wednesday against a qualifier.

The other Malaysian women's singles in the fray are S. Kisona and seventh seed, Soniia.