Kian Meng aims to come back on a clean slate starting with home Open

PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttler Tan Kian Meng is not one to throw in the towel easily.

The odds might be heavily stacked against Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing in the race for a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics but the former is not giving up just yet.

The independent pair had dropped from No. 6 to No. 25 in the world rankings after suffering early round exits in 21 out of their 24 individual tournaments this year.

Kian Meng-Pei Jing now need to overtake world No. 9 national pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei before the end of the qualifying period next April to make the cut for the Olympics.

“We still have a chance to qualify for the Olympics as we will have a fresh slate next year,” said Kian Meng.

“We have about 10 tournaments until April and we need to consistently reach the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

“10 of our best results will be taken into account and if we can raise our performance, we can move up the rankings again.

“We showed some improvement towards the end of the year and we need to build on this,” added Kian Meng.

Kian Meng-Pei Jing can draw inspiration from their performance in the China Open in September where they stunned Thailand’s 2021 world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Indonesia’s 2020 All-England winners Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva en route to reaching the last four.

The duo also reached back-to-back quarter-finals for the first time this year in the Korean and Japan Masters last month.

Kian Meng-Pei Jing’s first assignment next year will be the Malaysian Open from Jan 9-14 in Bukit Jalil where the pair have a tough opening match against South Korea’s world No. 7 Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun.

The former do hold the advantage based on the head-to-head records, having beaten the Korean pair twice in their past three meetings.

Another victory will see Kian Meng-Pei Jing face either Japan’s world No. 17 Kyohei Yamashita-Naru Shinoya or world No. 21 Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo in the second round.

Kian Meng is out to get off to a good start with Pei Jing in the home tourney.

“The Malaysian Open is very important for me and Pei Jing as it’s the first tournament of the year and it’s in front of our fans,” said Kian Meng

“The mixed doubles is now really competitive even more so with all the pairs fighting for spots in the Olympics.

“My hope is for Pei Jing and I to bounce back next year, starting from our home competition.”