Coach Rashid wants more from a resurgent Daren

PETALING JAYA: A resurgent Liew Daren is finally discovering his form and confidence following back-to-back quarter-finals in the All-england and Swiss Open but coach Rashid Sidek is far from satisfied.

Daren’s fine run in Birmingham and Basel is his best in international competition by far.

Consistency has been Daren’s biggest bugbear where he would do well against a tough opponent before totally losing the plot against a lesser rival.

At the All-england, Daren did well to beat higher ranked players such as Hsueh Hsuan Yi (Taiwan) and Boonsak Ponsana (Thailand) before losing to world No. 7 Lee Hyun-il of South Korea in the last eight.

In the Swiss meet, Daren gave a good fight to world No. 5 Chen Jin before bowing out.

Rashid believes Daren is finally finding his feet after living in the shadow of world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei for so long but he believes that there is still much work to be done.

“This is his best run by far,” said Rashid. “In the past, he would do well in one tournament but lose easily in the next and it affected his confidence.

“Strokes wise, he is a good player but he never had the self-belief to take on the top players.

“This time, his confidence is high and he has been coping well with the physical aspects of the game but there is still much room for improvement.”

Daren, ranked 37th in the world, could overtake Mohd Hafiz Hashim (No. 32) to be the second best in the country after Chong Wei.

“In terms of rankings, it would be good if Daren moves up to the second singles as it’ll give us a better chance in the Thomas Cup Finals with the more experienced Hafiz at No. 3,” said Rashid.

Daren will be playing in the Us$1mil Axiata Cup which starts this Saturday before competing in the Australian Open from April 3-8.