Vivian-Cheng Wen pumped up to face stiffer opponents this year
KUALA LUMPUR: The new year brings with it fresh challenges.
And it rings true for women’s doubles pair Vivian Hoo- Yap Cheng Wen as they brace themselves against stiffer opposition when they take on top ranked pairs in higher level tournaments this year – starting with next week’s Perodua Malaysian Masters in Bukit Jalil.
Vivian and Cheng Wen, who were only paired up in September last year, have gone on a meteoric rise from 206th place to 33rd place in the world after winning the Macau Open and Bangladesh International Challenge in the last two months.
They are now in the rat race for more ranking points in order to ensure a smoother ride when the Olympic qualification period begins in May.
Vivian, who previously partnered Woon Khe Wei before a knee injury forced the latter to hang up her racquet, said they would be ready for a hectic season.
“Our schedule this year will be tight as we want to break into the top 32 in the world so that we can enter the bigger tournaments. Then we want to enter the top 16 so that we can have a better chance of qualifying for the Olympics,” said Vivian.
But as their partnership is still only around four months, she said they were still learning to gel together and finding a strong chemistry between them.
“I was with Khe Wei before this, but even though they are both left-handed, there are still some differences in their style of play, so we still have to learn from our trial and error,” she said.
“Every tournament now presents a chance for us to learn from our mistakes and see what we need to improve on.
“To win two titles was out of our expectations, so hopefully this year we can strengthen our combination and performances and challenge stronger pairs from other countries.”
Head coach Rosman Razak said the quality of play would be higher in the top-30 bracket and he expects his players to cross swords with top pairs in the early rounds.
“Everything will be different from now on. It will be tougher for them.
“They will no longer be competing in international challenge and series tournaments,” said Rosman.
“The tournaments are bigger and they have to play higher quality opponents, so hopefully they can cope with the pressure and the challenge.”
“They’ve been showing positive progress, hopefully they can keep it up this year.”
Vivian-Cheng Wen’s challenge will start from the qualifying tournament at the Malaysian Masters and they will have to beat world No. 80 Febriana Dwipuji KusumaRibka Sugiarto of Indonesia to make the main draw.