Pei eyeing top 50 ranking
by Ting Tieng Hee. Posted on January 9, 2011, Sunday
KUCHING: National independent badminton player Pei We Chung is still seeking to improve his Badminton World Federation ranking this year as he takes on the challenge to play in more than 15 tournaments.
Currently ranked number 159, the 37-year-old player from Siniawan, Kuching is eyeing to reach the top 50 by the end of the year.
He dropped many ranking points last year as he was not doing well in the first half of the year and he failed to win crucial matches in some tournaments due to lapse of concentration and committing too many errors.
“I really hope that I can play well in certain big tournaments like All England, Malaysia Open and Japan Open. It will be difficult but I will try my best,” he said of the tough task ahead.
Pei will kick-start his campaign by competing in the German Open and Swiss Open in March, followed by the New Zealand International and Australia Open GP Gold in April, Malaysia GP Gold, Singapore Open and Indonesia Open in May.
His first tournament this year was supposed to be the Malaysia Open Super Series but the grand slam tournament only offered 40 spots, of which with Pei’s ranking, he is not qualified to play.
“But I still can make it to reserved list and if some players in the main draw withdraw, then I will play,” he said.
In June, Pei will fly to the United States to play in the US Open, and then proceed to the Canada Open GP and Singapore International in July, Vietnam Open GP in August, and the Chinese Taipei GP, China Master and Japan Open in September.
October will see Pei taking part in the Dutch Open, Denmark Open and French Open and the events slotted for November are the Hong Kong Open, China Open and Macau Open.
The player will wrap up 2011 by competing at the Korea GP Gold.
“I’m confident to face up the challenge and the first thing I need to do is to improve my training. After discussing with my coaches, we have to work out a plan to overcome my weaknesses like speed, agility and footwork.
He has two coaches, one to help him with the skills and fitness while the other trains him on physical strength and weight.
Meanwhile, Pei said Malaysia and Badminton of Malaysia (BAM) will lose a good coach if national men’s singles coach Datuk Misbun Sidek did not back up from his resignation decision.
“Misbun is a good coach and he can guide the singles players to improve their standard. If he quits, then Datuk Lee Chong Wei will follow suit because he knows very well that Misbun’s coaching suits him,” he said.
“I think both local and foreign coach have their own special way to train our players. I can’t say who is better but what I can say is each coach has his own way of coaching,” he added.
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