V Shem aims to defend gold medal in 2018 Commonwealth Games

KUALA LUMPUR: National badminton player, Goh V Shem is keeping his fingers crossed to retain the doubles gold medal he won with Tan Wee Kiong in the upcoming 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia, next month.

V Shem is aware that their mission will be tough considering several top 20 ranked pairs will be taking part in the quadrennial games.

The national top men’s doubles pair edged Danny Bawa Chrisnanta-Chayut Triyachart of Singapore, 21-12, 12-21 and 21-15 to win the gold medal in the 2014 edition in Scotland.

“The draw is quite tough especially with the presence of a few top ranked pairs from India and England, so we have to give more attention to these two pairs and not to take them lightly.

“Our performance in the AllEngland, a fortnight ago was not good, but we hoped to redeem it by giving our best in the Commonwealth Games,” V Shem told a press conference, here, yesterday.

Sharing his views are national mixed doubles pair, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai who revealed their campaign would not be easy with the presence of a few top pairs especially from England, India and Wales.

“We are grateful to Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) for giving us a chance to prove our worth in the Commonwealth Games and we will give our best and hopefully we can reach at least the semi-finals,” Goh said. - Bernama