IT was double joy for Malaysia’s professional mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai as they clinched the Malaysia Masters 2024 title at the Axiata Arena here today.
The newly-wed pair, ranked 18th in the world, fulfilled their wedding wish by emerging as champions after defeating Indonesia’s third-seeded pair Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 21-18, 21-19 in 48 minutes.
The victory also saw Soon Huat-Shevon, who tied the knot on May 4, end Malaysia’s seven-year drought to win the Super 500 championship title.
The last Malaysian mixed doubles pair to win the Malaysia Masters was Tan Kiang Meng-Lai Pei Jing in 2017. The tournament was not held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Soon Huat-Shevon Yang missed the title at the Malaysia Masters in 2017 after losing 17-21, 9-21 to Kiang Meng-Pei Jing in the final, but they finally realised their long-held dream of becoming champions on home soil.
“Because every time we see other countries get the title and stand on the podium, it feels sad, and finally, we made it this time for Malaysia. We haven’t planned anything yet for our honeymoon, but we want to focus on the next tournaments, which are the Singapore and Indonesia Opens.
“Definitely, the World Tour Finals (in Hangzhou, China in December) is our next target. So, we will keep improving ourselves to prepare to qualify,” said Soon Huat, who admitted that Shevon didn’t talk to him for a while after they were knocked out in the first round of the Thailand Open last week.
Meanwhile, Shevon described winning the title in front of home supporters and family at the Malaysia Masters as one of the sweetest moments in their career.
“Coming into this tournament, we didn’t expect to win because looking at the draw, we had a few hurdles to overcome, and today’s match was still 50-50, though we have a better head-to-head record (5-1). Everyone is improving and has their own tactics. So we didn’t become overconfident and prepared ourselves well, managed to control our emotions and game well.
“Winning the Swiss Open (in March) after three times in the final was the sweetest, but this one definitely feels different. I see all the crowds cheering for me, my family is here supporting, it brought tears to my eyes,” she said.
After no longer receiving support from the National Sports Institute (ISN) following their removal from the Road to Gold (RTG) program last October due to missing the chance to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Shevon said they are more cautious to avoid injuries to achieve their goal in Hangzhou.
