PETALING JAYA: Shevon Lai Jemie was gutted with the way her final Asian Games appearance ended.
She and partner Goh Soon Huat know that they will not go far in their qualification for the Paris Olympics next year if they continue to fall short in crucial moments of a game.
The world No. 11 Soon Huat-Shevon were holding match point at 20-17 in the second game before losing 21-17, 21-23, 13-21 to world No. 14 Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand in the second round on Wednesday.
The husband and wife combination had beaten the Thais in straight games to reach the Swiss Open semi-finals in March but the desperation to secure their last eight berth had put paid to their Asiad campaign.
Soon Huat-Shevon had also lost in the last 16 stage at the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta.
“I am really disappointed to lose the match because of my poor performance. We had the luck and the opportunity to achieve a breakthrough and go further,” said a disappointed Shevon.
“It was frustrating because we were leading by quite a bit in the second game. When we were up 20-17, we became desperate to win. As our opponents caught up point by point, we became anxious and tried to end the match quickly and paid the price for it.
The independent pair will now focus on securing a spot in the Olympics by regaining a top-eight spot and consolidate their position there.
They have not reached any semi-finals since the Asian Championships in Dubai in April and they need to take the Asiad lessons well in order to avoid losing in the preliminary rounds again.
Improved results could see two Malaysians pairs qualifying for the Olympics as young pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei are taking great strides in pushing for the Paris 2024 spot.
World No 9 Tang Jie-Ee Wei, who reached the last eight at the Asiad, are looking to be in a better position to qualify for the Olympics.
2023-10-05 23:01:40
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