Leong Jun Hao Needs to Revive Aggressive Play to Bounce Back

dd yy October 29, 2024 2 0

Men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao needs to return to his former attacking style to turn around his recent poor performance in tournaments.

Before the Paris Olympics in August, Jun Hao was in top form, defeating players like Indonesia’s world No. 4 Jonatan Christie, world No. 10 Anthony Ginting, and Taiwan’s No. 9 Chou Tien-chen, reaching consecutive quarter-finals in the Indonesian and Singapore Opens.

However, the 25-year-old’s performance dropped significantly after the Olympics. In all six individual tournaments following the Olympics, including the Arctic and Denmark Opens earlier this month, he suffered early exits. Men’s singles coach K. Yogendran attributes Jun Hao’s recent struggles to a shift towards a defensive style of play.

“Jun Hao’s strength lies in his aggressive game, which allowed him to upset top players like Jonatan and Anthony,” said Yogendran.

“These wins prove that he knows what he needs to do to succeed, but his recent performances haven’t been up to par because he’s been focusing too much on his defensive weaknesses.”

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“In training, he’s been working on his defense but has neglected to maintain his strengths. This has led him to adopt a defensive approach in tournaments, which isn’t the right strategy for him.”

“I’ve discussed this with him, and he understands the need to return to his aggressive style to regain his form,” added Yogendran.

Yogendran also highlighted that the limited training time and recent changes in the coaching structure have posed challenges to implementing his training program.

“The training period is short now, and there are many tournaments, so it’s difficult to make significant adjustments in the training program,” Yogendran explained. “We are trying to refine Jun Hao‘s game as much as possible in the short time available and also aim to improve his footwork and shots.”

Jun Hao, who reached a career-high No. 27 in July, has now dropped to No. 31 due to his recent lackluster performances. He still has a chance to regain his form by the end of the year in the back-to-back Japan Masters (Nov 12-17) and China Masters (Nov 19-24) tournaments.