WITH limited players under his care, coach Jeremy Gan is finding it hard to form a solid mixed doubles pair for the national squad.
In the absence of Goh Liu Ying, who is recovering from a knee injury, Jeremy is only left with Tan Aik Quan, Chan Peng Soon, Lai Pei Jing and Ng Hui Lin.
Jeremy, who had initially experimented with Peng Soon-Pei Jing, is now hoping to see some results from the Peng Soon-Hui Lin combination.
Pei Jing has resumed her partnership with Aik Quan.
“It’s unfortunate that we are without Liu Ying, who is still recovering from her injury. She told me that she is expected to return to full training in December,” Jeremy said when met at Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara on Friday.
“It’s tough because these are the only players I have, and we can’t expect results immediately from new combinations.
“Peng Soon-Hui Lin were playing for the first time as a pair at the Asian Games in Incheon, and although they crashed out in the first round, they gave some fight to the higher ranked Singaporean pair (Danny Bawa Chrisnanta-Vanessa Neo Yu Yan).”
Jeremy said the main goal now is to have a pair qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as the qualifying period will begin in April.
“For now, both our pairs have got a few tournaments to really improve on their communication and understanding on court.
“I will have to monitor and see what I can do to help improve their quality. It’s not easy, when you have a limited pool of players to choose from.
“Our main goal is the Olympics, and hopefully we will have a good pair before the qualifying period begins.”
Peng Soon-Liu Ying and Aik Quan-Pei Jing will be competing at the Perak Open this week, before traveling to Europe for the French Open (Oct 21-16) and the Bitburger Open in Germany (Oct 28-Nov 2). By Fabian Peter