June Wei still upbeat despite defeat to Sourabh in final

PETALING JAYA: The national men’s singles shuttlers are certainly no pushovers on the international stage, says Cheam June Wei.

The 21-year-old is in buoyant mood despite falling short in his bid to land his maiden BWF Tour title after a 19-21, 13-21 defeat to India’s Sourabh Verma in the final at the Dutch Open in Almere on Sunday.

It was June Wei’s third defeat in three finals this year having also settled for runner-up finishes at the Finnish Open and Austrian International.

But June Wei, who was playing in his first tournament since his Asian Games snub in August, was not too disheartened.

June Wei was initially selected to fill in the void left by Lee Chong Wei, who was ruled out due to illness.

But his joy was shortlived as Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) eventually picked independent shuttler Liew Daren, who had won bronze at the World Championships in Nanjing.

“I’ve prepared well before the final but I only have myself to blame for making too many unforced errors. But credit goes to Verma, he’s clearly the better player in the final,” said June Wei, who won the lower-tier Dutch International Challenge in April.

“To sum up the week, I’m quite happy with my performance this week.

“I have seen some improvements in my game especially after scoring an upset win over (India) P. Kashyap (in the quarter-finals).

“It was a nice win after losing to him in the Austrian Open final.

“Reaching my first World Tour final is still a big boost.”

June Wei has set his sights next on the Malaysian International Series (IS), which will be held at his home state Penang from Nov 6-11.

“The Dutch Open outing has boosted my confidence and I hope to keep pushing myself in training and try to strive for more results before the yearend,” he vowed.

“There are not many tournaments left this year but I hope to get one more title at least, hopefully at the Malaysian IS. I’m all pumped for it.”

Prior to June Wei’s reaching the Dutch Open final, teammates Lee Zii Jia and Soong Joo Ven have also impressed on the World Tour.

Zii Jia captured the Taiwan Open in the preceding week for his career’s biggest title while Joo Ven was the runner-up at the Hyderabad Open in India last month.

“Zii Jia’s victory has inspired me. It’s good to see him earning that breakthrough and I’m very happy for what he has achieved,” said June Wei.

“I think all of us in the men’s singles squad are working extremely hard to make the department strong again.

“All of us want to prove that Malaysian singles are worthy contenders.”