Letshanaa a star in the making
only did K. Letshanaa follow in the footsteps of her sister and brother, she did even better than them.
She has been a smashing success so far, and is seen as a future Malaysian star.
Her 22-year-old elder sister Bhirentha is an ex-national player who is now studying medicine.
Her 20-year-old brother, Jhotiswaran is an ex-Selangor player who is now studying software engineering.
Letshanaa won the girls’ Under-16 singles and doubles titles at the National Junior Circuit Division 1 first leg in George Town recently.
The second seeded Letshanaa upstaged top seed Arena Satu Samin of Sabah 21-11, 21-11 in the final.
She later teamed up with Loh Zhi Wei to bag the doubles title by defeating Johor's Ler Yee HueyTeoh Ju Kee 21-18, 21-10.
Letshanaa said her father, who is a social player, introduced her to the sport when she was five.
The 16-year-old idolises Taiwan’s World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying because of the way she plays.
“My world junior ranking is now 40 and my world ranking is 199.
“I hope to hit below 100 in the world rankings by the end of next year.”
Letshanaa, who said her target is to win the Asian Junior title, said: “I am confident I can achieve it, but my ultimate target is to win the World Junior title in the next two years.”
Last week, the SMK Damansara Utama Form Four student reached the quarter-finals of the national championship where she lost to national No 3 Lee Ying Ying 21-17, 18-21, 19-21.
Among her achievements are winning the Malaysian Schools singles title in 2012 and 2014 and the national junior singles title for five consecutive years.
Last year, she won the Mauritius International series singles title and finished third at the Egypt International Series.
Letshanaa said she is looking forward to the Thailand Junior Under-19 next month where her target is to finish on the podium.