And national coach Hendrawan views it as yet another positive sign.
Iskandar made the cut for the Super Series by virtue of his marked progress in the world ranking – moving up 100 spots from 181st to 81st within a year. “This is Iskandar’s first Super Series, although he will start from the qualifying tournament. I plan to push him to qualify for more Super Series events next year,” said Hendrawan.
The 18-year-old Iskandar will take on R.M.V. Gurusaidatt of India in the first round of the qualifier.
Hendrawan’s other charges in the Hong Kong Open are Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Misbun Ramdan Misbun, who will both feature in the qualifying round as well.
Arif will face Ashton Chen of Singapore while Ramdan will take on Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong.
Apart from Iskandar, other players under Hendrawan have also shown improvement. Ramdan nailed his first senior title at the Pahang Open while Arif did well to reach the semi-finals of the Bitburger German Open last week. “It’s good to see good results from the back-up shuttlers. The four top players are Arif, Ramdan, Iskandar and Goh Soon Huat,” said Hendrawan.
“Arif is a regular in the Super Series and we will push the other three to follow suit next year.”
The other players in Hendrawan’s group, Loh Wei Sheng, Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Goh Giap Chin, will be given more opportunities to make a mark in the Grand Prix Gold events next year.
“All these small breakthroughs and upsets over higher ranked players will help boost the players’ confidence but, at the end of the day, all that matters is to win. Hopefully, more of them will become champions,” he said.
Hendrawan’s players have a chance to impress when they get compete in the Malaysia International Challenge in Kuching from Nov 13-18.
Their main challengers will be top seed Mohd Hafiz Hashim of KLRC and third seed Ashton.
Courtesy of The Star
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