KUALA LUMPUR – Strength and fitness undoubtedly play crucial roles in an athlete’s success, but equally essential is a strong psychological trait to sustain momentum.
Speaking to Scoop, Datuk James Selvaraj emphasised the significance of mental fortitude for national men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, particularly following today’s finals appearance at the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) in Ningbo, China.
As former Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) high-performance director, Selvaraj underscored the necessity for the world number 19 duo to leverage their recent achievements as motivation for even greater success.
“This is a good pair, for them to beat Aaron and Wooi Yik is a plus point, the national number ones were ahead of everyone but now Sze Fei and Izzuddin have emerged as the second-best pair in the national squad.
“I don’t think at the start of the tournament they had imagined playing in the final, but they achieved just that.
“What is more impressive is they beat world and Olympic champions on route to the final, this shows that they are improving.
“They must now build themselves up psychologically and use this final appearance as motivation to get better results,” said Selvaraj when contacted.
He added that Sze Fei and Izzuddin’s showing bodes well for the Thomas Cup in Chengdu taking place from April 28 to May 5.
“We now have two pairs playing well and this is good for the Thomas Cup.”
In the first round, Sze Fei-Izzuddin took out world number two and reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae, 21-13, 21-18, at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre.
Malaysia’s fourth-best pair then took on home duo, He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu, who retired from their second-round match after Sze Fei and Izzuddin won the first set 21-11.
Following that, they battled 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin in the quarter-final, triumphing 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 in 69 minutes.
The next names to be crossed off in their giant-killing list were national number one pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik whom they disposed of 21-14, 21-18 in 40 minutes.
However, in the final today, they could not get the better of another home team duo, Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
Their previous encounter with the world number three pair was at the recent 2023 Malaysian Open, where they lost in three games.
That result repeated today when Sze Fei and Izzuddin lost 17-21, 21-15, 10-21 in 64 minutes.
This is their first finals appearance of the season and the biggest one in their career so far, as the BAC is at the same level as a World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
The pair’s previous best results were two Super 300 wins at the 2022 German and 2023 US Opens. – April 14, 2024