It was losing debut for Malaysia’s K. Letshanna in the Pembangunan Jaya Raya Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Bintaro, Jakarta when the individual events got underway on Wednesday.
However, despite her 13-21, 22-20, 21-10 defeat to Japan’s Chihiro Uchiyama in the women’s singles, Malaysia’s head coach Kwan Yoke Meng heaped praises on Letshanna.
“Write on her…she is definitely a future star. She is only15 and gave a good account of what is to come from her in badminton,” said Yoke Meng.
Letshanna arrived in Jakarta only on Sunday after representing Malaysia in the Asia Schools Championships in Nagpur, India where she reached the quarter-finals before losing to Thailand’s Atitaya Pavanon 21-15, 115-21, 18-21.
In the Asian Junior Championships, she was not fielded in the mixed team event where Malaysia retained their bronze medal after losing 3-0 to Japan in the semi-finals. In the quarter-finals, Malaysia stunned defending champions Korea 3-2.
“Letshanna has all the ingredients to be a top-class player and she is only 15 years-old. She has the speed and power but lacks her game plan. That was what cost her the match against Chihiro. She must know when to slow down the pace instead of just going for the kill.
“It is a good learning experience for her. She needs more exposure and experience playing in international tournaments to further improve her game” said Yoke Meng, adding that Chihiro is a regular in the Japanese Junior Circuit.
Letshanna, a student of Damansara Utama, has been hailed as a bright star in Malaysia. She won the first-leg in Kuala Terengganu and the second-leg in Alor Setar in the recent 100PLUS National Junior Circuit in Malaysia but had to skip the grand finals in Seremban as she was selected for the Asian Schools Championships.
“This is my first Asian Junior Championships and it is a good experience for me. I will be better prepared and will work harder on my shortcomings,” said Letshanna after her defeat.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Eoon Qi Xuan is in the second round after receiving a walkover from Mongolia’s Kherlen Darkhanbaatar. However, two other Malaysians players – Go Pei Kee and Myisha Mohd Khairul lost their first-round matches to Singapore’s Insyirah Khan and Hong Kong China’s Saloni Samirbhai Mehta respectively. – BADMINTON ASIA
