Kuala Lumpur: Despite gradual progress towards stabilization and better results, Malaysia’s mixed doubles coach Jeremy Gan has decided to split up the partnership of Chan Peng Soon and Lai Pei Jing as he is planning to form two strong mixed doubles pairs for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
“Peng Soon and Pei Jing did not show any promising results in Glasgow, they failed to show any form of consistency to challenge any top mixed doubles pair in the world,” Jeremy admitted.
“If possible, I am planning to send two mixed doubles pair for the 2016 Rio Olympics – Peng Soon with Hui Lin or Liu Ying and Tan Aik Quan-Lai Pei Jing,” said Jeremy.
For the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Jeremy has decided to try out the combination of Peng Soon and Ng Hui Lin.
“Peng Soon and Hui Lin will play in the 2014 Asian Games mixed doubles event together with Lim Khim Wah- Lim Yin Loo. Let’s see how they will fare in Incheon,” added Jeremy.
“As for Pei Jing, she has grown tremendously after playing with Peng Soon in several tournaments this year. She is more confident now, and I believed she and Tan Aik Quan could produce some good results in their upcoming tournaments,” added Jeremy.
In the recently concluded Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Peng Soon and Pei Jing won all matches in the preliminary round of the mixed teams event; they then lost to world number 12 Robert Blair/Imogen Bankier of Scotland 24-22, 9-21, 11-21 in quarter-final, defeated world number 10 Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/Vanessa Neo of Singapore 17-21,21-12,21-14 in the semi-final, and lost to world number 5 Chris Adcock-Gabby Adcock of England 21-14, 28-26 in final; In the individual mixed doubles event at Glasgow, they managed to stretch world number 17 Chris Langridge-Heather Olver of England to rubber game before went down 15-20, 22-20, 13-21 in the semi-final.