LETTERS: The performance of An Se-young of South Korea and Gregoria Tunjung of Indonesia makes me envious. In comparison, Malaysian women badminton players have not achieved much on the world stage.
Both players have good courtcraft and footwork, and have improved by leaps and bounds. Their never say die gritty attitude is to be admired, too.
We are still waiting for such players to emerge. The dearth of such high-quality women singles players at the highest level for us is a disappointment.
In the women's doubles, we only have Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, who perform creditably from time to time in the world circuit.
In the past, we can mention only Rosalind Singha Ang, Sylvia Ng and Wong Mew Choo.
Indonesia keeps on churning out players of world standard like Retno Koestijah, Minarni Soedaryanto, Verawaty, Susi Susanti, and now Tunjung.
In later years, from the 1990s onwards, South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand and Taiwan, too, have been coming up with top-class players.
It is about time that some soul-searching is done on our part to find a recipe that can uplift and sustain the standard of our women's badminton at the highest level.
THIAGARAJAN MATHIAPARANAM
Klang, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times