Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist – Chan Peng Soon and his new mixed doubles partner, Valeree Siow, will make their official debut at the 2022 India Open which will be held in New Delhi from January 11 to January 16.
Through a video published by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Chan said he and his new partner did not set any target for their first tournament together as a pair, but will try his best with his partner.
“Everything is okay, I’m still not used to the training yet because some young players are very fast, I just try to follow their tempo. Valeree is still young, as she just switched from women’s doubles to mixed doubles, there are still a lot of mixed doubles skills she has to learn,” said Chan.
“That’s why last week, I came early for training (Chan supposed to make his first day back to BAM on Jan 1, 2022), trying to pair up with her so we can see how our combination works,” added Chan.
“I didn’t really pay attention to her age, the most important thing is how we can play well on the court,” commented Chan who is 33 years old on Siow who is only 19 years old.
“We are making preparations for the India Open, but we don’t want to think about the results right now. We are going to try our best,” concluded Chan.
Meanwhile, Valeree, 19, who previously teamed up with Low Yeen Yuan in the women’s doubles event, said her focus at the moment was to build up strong chemistry with Chan on the court.
“I was very excited and I learned a lot from ‘uncle’ (Chan Peng Soon). He taught and me a lot. I didn’t want to put pressure on myself,” said Siow.
While Valeree was not sure how long she will be paired with Chan, she was determined to keep working hard and fixing her weaknesses on the court.
On December 10, BAM picked Valeree Siow as Chan Peng Soon’s new mixed doubles partner after Chan ended his 13-year partnership with Goh Liu Ying. Chan/Goh’s highest achievement was winning silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
