Coach wants Chen-Toh to do their best to reach Tour Finals semis

PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto has challenged top pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei to at least reach the last four of the World Tour Finals from Dec 13-17 in Hangzhou.

Tang Jie-Ee Wei had made the cut for the prestigious season ending Finals for the first time after clinching the eighth and final spot in the Race to Hangzhou rankings.

Qualifying for the competition is already a good achievement for the pair as they had only been combined together last December.

Now, Nova wants his charges to push on and make a positive impression in the tournament.

“My hope is for Tang Jie-Ee Wei to at least reach the semi-finals,” said Nova.

“This tournament is important for them to collect ranking points for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“It will be tough as they will be up against three of the best pairs in the world this year in the group stages.

“Our pair will also not be seeded as only the top four pairs will have a seeding.

“So, they will be grouped together with two seeded pairs.

“They have to survive the group stages to make it to the last four.

“I want them to give it their best shot,” added Nova.

The draw for the Finals will be released two days before the competition gets underway.

The pairs, who finished in the top four and will be seeded are China’s Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping and Asian Games gold medallists Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong, South Korea’s reigning world champions Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung and Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino while the unseeded combinations along with Tang Jie-Ee Wei are Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai, another Korean duo Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun and Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet.

Nova acknowledged that Tang Jie-Ee Wei need to raise their game to do well in Hangzhou after the pair’s inconsistent form lately.

The duo reached the semi-finals of the Korean Masters but crashed out of the first round of the China Masters recently.

“I will say their performances overall are still not stable,” said Nova.

“They have done well to qualify for the Tour Finals but they need to work harder than ever from now on to reach a higher level.

“There are two weeks until the Finals and they have to use the time to prepare well.”