No more early exits
Kian Meng-Pei Jing desperate to break their first-round jinx
PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing have never felt so nervous about a first-round match.
That’s because the world No. 21 duo are desperate to end their six-match winless streak at the World Championships in Nanjing tomorrow.
They take on Taiwan’s Liao Min-chun-Chen Hsiao-huan in the first round at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games Sports Park Arena.
It’s certainly a match they can’t afford to lose after exiting the first round of all the six previous tournaments they competed in since the German Open in March.
They also failed to clear the first hurdle at the All England, Asian Championships, the Malaysian Open, Indonesian Open and Thailand Open.
The poor run of results saw them slipping from the world top 20 for the first time since September 2016.
Kian Meng said he and Pei Jing are determined to stop the rot but insisted they arrived in Nanjing without pressure.
“There’s no pressure,” said Kian Meng, for- merly a singles player before switching to doubles three years ago.
“I think we have lost so many times until the point we got nothing more to lose.
“What’s more important is that Pei Jing and I stick together, persevere and keep believing in ourselves that we can get through these difficult times.
“Athletes face ups and downs in their career. In our case, we need more time to regain our confidence.
“We’re not rushing things.
“We’ve done our best preparations for the world meet, hopefully we’ll be able to turn our season around here in Nanjing.”
In Glasgow last year, Kian Meng-Pei Jing made it to the third round before being ousted by Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China.
If they manage to get past the first round, awaiting them in the second are Thailand’s Dechapol Puavanukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing have beaten both the Taiwanese and the Thai opponents previously.
“It will be 50-50 in the first two rounds, but let’s just focus on the opening match first,” he said.