National mixed doubles pair Choong Hon Jian and Toh Ee Wei vowed to remain grounded despite their eye-catching hot streak run lately.
The dynamic young pair secured their third title this year when they won in the final at the Austrian Open badminton championships last night.
The pair bounced back from a first-game loss to upset top seeds William Villeger-Sharone Bauer of France 16-21, 21-9, 21-19 in a nail-biting 46-minute showdown at the Raiffeisen Sportpark in Graz.
Choong said she and Toh aim to work their socks off in training when they return to Malaysia and prepare themselves for the next tournament.
She said they wanted to dedicate their victory to the coaches, including Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann for entrusting them by giving the opportunity to play in tournaments.
Ee Wei also shared on how they managed to turn the tables despite trailing behind 6-11 to the French pair in the third set before they triumphed in this tournament.
“We were quite panicky in the first set as I felt that we had lost control and made a lot of mistakes but we managed to remain composed in the second set before we fought all out in the later stages of the deciding set to ensure the title is in our hands,” she said in a video shared to the media.
Meanwhile, Choong promised to appear much stronger in the next tournament and also aimed to train harder.
The young Malaysian pair had previously won the Polish Open in March and the Slovenia International last week.
The pair were not the sole winners in this Austrian meet as national men’s doubles pair Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Muhammad Haikal Nazri made it a double delight for the national camp by crushing Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar of France 21-17, 21-15 in the final.
However, national women’s doubles Anna Ching Yik Cheong-Yap Cheng Wen's hopes of making it a triple treat for Malaysia fell short at the final hurdle when they lost 11-21, 16-21 to Indonesians Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istarani-Serena Kani.
Meanwhile, Arif and Haikal described their success in Austria as the starting point in their journey as badminton players.
Haikal hoped that their triumph would act as a springboard to gain more success as well as raising up their game in the future.
Echoing Haikal's thoughts, Arif said that he will work hard in their bid to make their dream as a successful pair may one day come to fruition.
“Of course this victory is for Malaysia… all the hard work in training and thanks to your prayers, all helped prove our ability to win in this tournament in Austria,” he said.
- Bernama
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