KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — National doubles head coach Nova Widianto says he is not surprised to see Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin crashing out in the first round of the 2025 Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) in Ningbo, China, recently.
He said that he had kind of expected the result as he was not sure how they would handle the pressure that comes with competing in the tournament.
Nova was referring to world number 14 Pang Ron-Su Yin's 21-15, 12-21, 11-21 loss to India's Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto on Tuesday (April 8).
"I was not surprised, but they (the Malaysian pair) seemed to lose focus in the second and third games, especially Su Yin after they took an 8-6 lead in the second game… they started making mistakes.
"The higher their ranking, the higher the pressure. They must be strong...players cannot bottle it mentally. Do not keep thinking about your previous defeats,” he told the press after the national team's training session at Akademi Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara today.
Nova has called on the pair to be wiser in dealing with the pressure.
Last month, Hoo-Cheng also crashed out in the first round of the All England Badminton Championships.
— Bernama
