LETTERS: The fighting spirit of mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai gave the crowd plenty of excitement and thrills in winning the final of Malaysian Masters.
They have gained the respect of other mixed doubles pairs.
Our main singles player, Lee Zii Jia, gave his all but Viktor Axelsen was too good for him, though he did force the match to a rubber set.
But Zii Jia has the potential to win a medal in the Paris Olympics if he continues to improve and be consistent in the next couple of tournaments and avoids injuries.
The men's and women's doubles have much to brush up on to challenge the best, while the women's singles players have not had much impact so far on the national, regional and international scene.
Unless there is an indication that our players can rise to the occasion and start winning consistently, to eye for the gold in the Paris Olympics in whatever category may remain a distant dream.
Our players can do much better, as shown in some of their matches.
But often, they are shaken and unable to dictate or respond "defensively or offensively", and they seem to falter at the last mile.
We cannot discount that the mental state of players can either move them to win or lose.
We are made aware about a motivator to help the players. Hopefully, his motivational talks will spur players to acquire a winning mentality.
It is about a mindset that is moved and shaped by self-belief, strong will, determination, a winning attitude and that losing is not an option.
Despite coaching director Rexy Mainaky saying that all is not lost as the players are aware of their shortcomings, he, like Malaysian badminton fans, is disappointed with the outcome at the Malaysian Masters.
Therefore, there is a lot of work to do post-Masters and progress needs to be shown while players continue to participate in tournaments before the real battle starts in Paris this July.
DR TAN ENG BEE
Kajang, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times