Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s mixed doubles specialist Chan Peng Soon believed he and Pei Jing got a shot at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games which will be held from July 23-Aug 3. It’s been a tough year for the duo, who has yet to win any international title since they started playing together.
Their partnership has been shaky this year. They lost to Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thoungthongkam 11-21, 15-21 in the quarter-finals of last week’s Australian Open. A week before Australian Open, they bowed out to Zhang Nan, Zhao Yunlei in the second round of Japan Open 16-21, 9-21; Earlier this year, they lost to Robert Mateusiak-Agnieszka Wojtkowska of Poland 15-21 21-15 16-21 in the final of Austrian International Challenge, defeated by Ko Sung Hyun-Kim Ha Na of Korea 12-21 15-21 in the German Open, fell out in the first round of the All-England, rejected by Danny Bawa Chrisnanta-Yu Yan Vanessa Neo of Singapore in the second round of Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold and crashed out in the quarter-finals of the Indian Open.
“Frankly, we still have a lot of work to do. We need more time to understand and to complement each other’s styles of play,” said Peng Soon.
“For now, I just want to stay positive. If we keep training hard and to read and respond our moves better, we have “a very good chance” of challenging for the Commonwealth Games title,” added Peng Soon.
World No. 5 Chris Adcock-Gabrielle Adcock of England is the top favorite at mixed doubles event in the Commonwealth games. Peng Soon and Pei Jing will have to overcome Chris and Gabby Adcock, world No. 12 Chrisnanta Danny Bawa-Vanessa Neo of Singapore and world No. 13 Robert Blair-Imogen Bankier of Scotland in order to win the gold medal.
