DESPITE her poor showing against England on Monday, Malaysia are still expected to field S.Kisona in tomorrow's Sudirman Cup Group D tie against Japan.
BA of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann still stands by the 23-year-old women's singles, who did not look like the same shuttler who had won the 2019 Sea Games gold and the Spanish International title in June.
On Monday, the Negri Sembilan-born struggled on the court as she went down tamely 21-16, 22-20 to world No 176 Abigail Holden in the fourth match after Malaysia had closed the tie 3-0.
The other women's singles in the squad are Eoon Qi Xuan and 18-year-old K.Letshanaa.
"Yes, she (Kisona) is still struggling because she had a long layoff from tournaments. She was not really confident on the court," Choong Hann said.
"However, she realises what she needs to improve on, and I believe in time she will regain her form."
For the record, Kisona was part of a group of players who tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from Europe in June.
As a result, the players missed several weeks of training and competitions due to strict quarantine protocols.
The match against Japan tomorrow would determine who tops the group heading into the knockout stage before a fresh draw is conducted for the quarter-finals.
Even at her best, it will still be a huge task for Kisona to come good against the mighty Japanese, who boast the likes of world No 5 Akane Yamaguchi and former world champion Nozomi Okuhara in their ranks.
On paper, second seeds Japan are the clear favourites to win the tie, but Choong Hann has not overruled a possible upset.
"We will field our strongest squad and hope for the best outcome," he added.
The men's singles match will be a mouth-watering clash between reigning All England champion Lee Zii Jia and world No 1 Kento Momota.
Zii Jia had the upper hand in their previous encounter at the All England in Birmingham, which marked his first victory over the Japanese ace from seven meetings.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have their work cut out for them as they are expected to face world No 16 Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the men's doubles match.
In the women's doubles match, Swiss Open champions Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah will likely play world No 3 Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara.
Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See, who stunned world No 7 Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith on Monday, are expected to take on world No 5 Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino in the mixed doubles match.
Malaysia rested their key players yesterday and gave their second-stringers an experience run on court in the second group tie against Egypt.