Joo Ven wants good impressions to last
PETALING JAYA: National shuttler Soong Joo Ven is keeping his fingers crossed that he has done enough to impress the coaches at the Asia Team Championships.
The 20-year-old was selected to be the fourth-ranked singles player behind Zulfadli Zulkiffli, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Soo Teck Zhi in Hyderabad, India.
And the world No. 79 got his first taste of the action when he beat Nabin Shrestha 21-9, 21-12 to help Malaysia to a 5-0 win over Nepal in their Group B match yesterday.
Zulfadli, Iskandar and the doubles pairs of Low Juan Shen-Tan Kian Meng and Tan Chee Tean-Tan Wee Gieen delivered the other points for Malaysia.
With world No. 65 Teck Zhi still inconsistent, losing to Sri Lanka’s Buwenaka Goonathileka on Tuesday, Joo Ven is hoping that his performance against Nabin will get him the nod for the topof-the-group clash against Japan today.
“The team manager and coaches told us that everyone will get a fair chance to play, so I knew I would get a chance to see some action,” said Joo Ven.
“I’m really excited to take my chances. Plus, we don’t have much pressure at all, so I played my best.
“I also want to have the chance to play against Japan ... but it’s up to the coaches to decide who will have a better chance, though.
“I can’t promise I’ll deliver the point if selected. But I’m prepared to fight and never give up.”
In the other Group B match, Japan notched another 5-0 win, this time beating Sri Lanka.
World No. 4 Kento Momota, Sho Sasaki, Kenta Nishimoto, Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa and Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda delivered the points for Japan.
In Group A, hosts India got off to a winning start by beating Singapore 5-0.