DESPITE all the challenges faced over the last two years, mixed doubles Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing can take heart from their fine showing at the Denmark Open in Odense.
On Friday, the world No 12 fell short in their bid to reach their first Super 1000 semi-final after losing 19-21, 21-12, 21-14 in the quarter-finals to world No 5 Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan.
However, what many do not know is that Kian Meng and Pei Jing did not train together for more than two weeks before the Denmark Open.
This is because Kian Meng recently formed a men's doubles partnership with Tan Wee Kiong.
Kian Meng, 28, sacrificed his preparations with Pei Jing to travel to Almere with Wee Kiong for the recent Dutch Open, in which they reached the final.
And because of fully booked flights, Kian Meng could only fly to Denmark on Monday evening to join Pei Jing.
The former BAM pair only tested the court at the Odense Sports Park on Tuesday, the day they took on world No 9 Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia in the first round.
They rose to the occasion to score a rousing 21-17, 21-14 win over the Indonesians, thus setting the tone for a superb outing.
"Honestly, I was not expecting this. I was worried and nervous because Kian Meng and I did not train together properly for the Denmark Open.
"Beating Hafiz-Gloria really lifted our spirits. We haven't played top-flight badminton in months because of the pandemic, so it was really good," Pei Jing said.
Meanwhile, BAM's second stringers continued to shine at the Czech Open in Brno, reaching several semi-finals yesterday.
In the men's singles, 21-year-old Ng Tze Yong recorded a 21-9, 21-18 win over Indonesia's Krishna Adi Nugraha in the last eight and will face Singapore's Jason Teh next.
Cheam June Wei, however, ran out of luck and crashed out in the quarter-finals. going down 19-21, 21-15, 21-17 to India's Siril Verma.
In the women's singles, 17-year-old Siti Nurshuhaini Azman upstaged national teammate K.Letshanaa 21-16, 16-21, 21-6 to reach the semi-finals.
In the mixed doubles, Lim Tze Jian-Wong Kha Yan saw off Beh Chun Meng-Cheng Su Hui 21-18, 21-12, to set up a semi-final clash with Singapore's Terry Hee-Tan Wei Han.