Fit for Olympic battle

PETALING JAYA: There is still hope for mixed doubles shuttlers Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing in the race to qualify for the Paris Olympics if their battling performance in the Indonesian Masters is anything to go by.

World No. 25 Kian Meng-Pei Jing’s chances looked bleak at the beginning of the year and that was compounded after the duo suffered first-round exits in the Malaysian and Indian Opens.

The independent pair, though, rebounded strongly in the Indonesian tourney where they nearly caused a huge upset over China’s world No. 1 Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong in the quarter-finals.

Kian Meng-Pei Jing were not expected to cause much trouble to the formidable Chinese pair but fought hard before agonisingly losing out 21-18, 18-21, 13-21 in 59 minutes in Jakarta on Friday.

Despite the defeat, it was the former’s best performance since the Japan Masters in November where they also made it to the last eight.

Pei Jing was satisfied with her performance with Kian Meng.

“We gave our very best but unfortunately, we could not be on the winning side,” said Pei Jing in a post-match interview with SPOTV.

“But I’m very satisfied with our performance. There are some aspects that we need to improve on and we will keep working hard.”

Kian Meng said: “We lost focus a bit in the second and third games during the crucial stages.

“Our opponents were more patient when the score was close and this is what we need to learn from.”

Kian Meng-Pei Jing still have a chance, albeit a slim one, to make the cut for the Olympics if they can produce similar performances in their next tournaments.

The pair need to overtake world No. 9 Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei before the end of the qualifying period in April to book their spot.

Meanwhile, Tang Jie-Ee Wei will need to raise their own performance in order not to miss the boat to Paris after a disappointing start to the year.

The duo, who enjoyed a breakthrough in 2023 after they were only combined at the end of 2022, have not been able to continue their good form so far this year, suffering second-round defeats in the Malaysian, Indian and Indonesian tourneys.

Both Kian Meng-Pei Jing and Tang Jie-Ee Wei will head for the Thailand Masters, which gets underway on Tuesday in Bangkok.

To add to the intrigue, both pairs could clash in the last eight if both make it through to that stage.