KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — The national men's doubles badminton back-up players need to improve their mental strength to 'shine' on the international stage after failing to advance to the final of the Sri Lanka International Challenge 2025, which ended yesterday.
National men's doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi said he did not rule out the possibility that the deficiency factor was the reason why the players sent were unable to emulate the positive steps of their senior players.
"I need time to change the way they play a little. According to me, if you look at training, they have shown improvement but it is different when competing.
"I need to re-analyze the matter because it is possible that their mental strength is lacking in competition," he said when met recently.
The badminton camp sent a total of six men's doubles pairs but all of them failed to advance to the final of the tournament offering a total cash prize of US$17,500 (RM78,091).
However, Malaysia did not return empty-handed after professional men's singles player Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin became the country's sole representative to emerge champion of the International Challenge.
The world's 68th ranked player needed only 47 minutes to defeat world number 210 player from India Pranay Katta 21-19 21-15 in the final at the St Joseph's Sports Complex, Colombo.
— Bernama
