EVEN without a warm-up match, Malaysia's Soniia Cheah is ready to face former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in today's final Group N tie at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 28-year-old women's singles received a walkover from Laura Sarosi yesterday after the Hungarian withdrew with an Achilles injury.
Laura had picked up the injury after her match against Ratchanok on Sunday.
Soniia said: "Of course, I would have preferred to play a match before facing Ratchanok, but issues like this are out of my control.
"Nobody likes to win like this (walkover) at the Olympics. I feel sorry for Laura, but I'll have to look at it positively and be prepared for tomorrow's (today) match.
"I may not have played a match yet, but I have been occupied here.
"Daily training takes up close to half a day, so I am not too worried about not getting enough time on the court.
"This is my first Olympics, and I'm excited to make the best out of it. I am hoping for a good match with Ratchanok."
Soniia, who suffered a career-threatening Achilles tendon injury in 2013, has never beaten Ratchanok in four previous meetings.
For the singles event, only the group winners will qualify for the last 16.
"I do not want to think too much about the outcome of the match against Ratchanok. I have prepared myself for this Olympics, and I will do my best on court," added Soniia.
In the women's doubles, Malaysia's Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean ended their first Olympic campaign on a winning note.
After losing the opening ties to Indonesia's Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu and Japan's World No 1 Sayaka Hirota-Yuki Fukushima, Mei Kuan-Meng defeated Britain's Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith 21-19, 21-16 to finish third in the group.
In the doubles event, only the top two pairs will reach the quarter-finals.