Back from the brink and loving it

over two years ago, Shevon Lai was on the verge of hanging up her racquet but it was not meant to be.

In fact, the 25-year-old can now hope to play in next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.

Paying tribute to former BA of Malaysia (BAM) technical director Morten Frost, Shevon said she and her partner Goh Soon Huat have never looked back since.

“Soon Huat and I have come a long way. At one point the two of us were just hanging around and our results were not consistent.

“I was on the verge of giving up, I had lost faith in my career but somehow someone came and pointed out that I have not reached my best yet.

“Frost was the one who gave us hope to move forward.

“We got our confidence from the first three tournaments we played in, two titles (2016 Malaysia International Challenge and Scottish Open) and one runner-up (2016 Welsh International) was a fantastic start,” said Shevon, who together with Soon Huat are currently ranked No 9 in the world.

Playing in the Malaysia Open this week, Soon Huat-Shevon are raring to put up a good show, not just for the fans but for themselves, especially after reaching the semi-finals of last month’s All England.

“For now, our main goal is to try and qualify for the Olympics next year. It’s crucial for us and for the country.

“There will be four pairs (including Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing) fighting for two spots.

“The competition will be very tough because we need to have two pairs in the top-eight bracket to get that.

The 2018 Singapore Open champions also admitted that it will be tough to defend their crown in the Lion City next week, but have promised to give a good account of themselves.

“Defending the title will definitely be a bonus, but we want to give our best and see how far we can go,” Shevon added.

Soon Huat-Shevon will begin their Malaysia Open campaign against Indonesia's Alfian Eko Prasetya-Marsheilla Gischa Islami.