KUALA LUMPUR: After being separated by injury for almost three months, national men's doubles pair Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi are eagerly looking forward to the Swiss Open from March 19 to 24 to resume their promising partnership.
The two shuttlers, who were paired up in March last year, started to gain attention when they won several championships including the national title but a knee injury suffered by Roy King in December disrupted their progress.
“Of course, I'm quite excited to return to action. But I have to be cautious for fear of picking up another injury.
“I can say I'm 100 per cent fit to play again. This is the first week of my training session and it went well,” he said when met at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara here today.
Roy King will also partner Valeree Siow in the mixed doubles in the tournament.
Wan Arif hopes they can regain their momentum fast as they are targeting to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Super 300 event.
“It feels different because we had not trained together since December and I also teamed up with other players.
“However, we do not want the target (quarter-finals) to become a burden because we just want to do our best in every match,” he said.
The world number 58 pair will be working on rectifying certain shortcomings in their game, especially their tendency to crumble at crucial moments.
“Sometimes, we simply lost when looking for the crucial point,” he said. -Bernana
