KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles specialist Shevon Lai admits that her frustration is growing due to lack of results in the past five months.
On Wednesday, Shevon and her partner, Goh Soon Huat, lost in the All England first round after falling 21-10, 21-14 to South Korea's world No 9 Seo Seung Jae-Chae Yu Jung at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
It was Shevon-Soon Huat's fourth straight first round exit in the All England. The Korean pair also eliminated them at the same stage three years ago.
Shevon-Soon Huat have not been able to build on their semi-final outing at the Denmark Open in October last year.
In their next seven competitions, the world No 8 only managed to reach the quarter-finals once, at the Indonesia Masters in January.
"We're trying really hard, giving all we have to push ourselves to break through. But nothing much has worked for us so far," said Shevon, who reached the All England semi-finals with Soon Huat in 2019.
"We have even opened ourselves to a lot of ideas, advice and training methods, but still haven't got the remedy to break through."
All is not lost yet, however, as Shevon-Soon Huat still have two more stops - next week's Swiss Open and Spain Masters (March 28-April 2) - to get back on track.
The two events would be crucial for them to earn a call-up for the Sudirman Cup Finals in Suzhou in May. They are in the running for the two mixed doubles spots along with fellow professionals world No 6 Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and world No 31 Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei of the national team.
Shevon-Soon Huat will also likely vie with these two pairs over the next one year in their bid to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.