KUALA LUMPUR: Following their fine run at last week's China Open in Changzhou, mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai are in prime position to qualify for the season-ending World Tour Finals in Hangzhou on Dec 11-15.
The independent pair qualified for the Tour Finals three times (2018, 2020 and 2022), and will return to it if they maintain their form in the remaining events.
After Soon Huat-Shevon finished runners-up to China pair Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping on Sunday, the Malaysian duo lie in third spot in the World Tour rankings behind China pair Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin and fellow Malaysians Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei.
Soon Huat, 34, said their best run in a Super 1000 event, the China Open, means they have a good chance of qualifying for the Tour Finals again.
"This result has given us a big opportunity to qualify for the Tour Finals," said Soon Huat.
"We will compete in the remaining tour events after this and focus on our aim to qualify for the Tour Finals again."
The top eight players and pairs in each category will make the cut for the Tour Finals where a country can have a maximum of two pairs.
With Olympic gold medallists automatically offered a spot in the Tour Finals, Yan Zhe-Dong Ping will not make the cut as Paris Olympics winners Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong's spot is confirmed while Zhen Bang-Ya Xin will take China's second slot.
All Soon Huat-Shevon need to do is to ensure they compete in the remaining three events – Arctic Open (Oct 8-13), Denmark Open (Oct 15-20) and China Masters (Nov 19-24) - to confirm their spot.
The Tour Finals offer a total prize money of US$2.5 million (RM10.5 million) with the winners of the mixed doubles taking home US$210,000 (RM885,000).
Qualifying itself will guarantee a minimum purse of US$17,500 should a pair finish last in their group, while the semi-finalists will get US$50,000. Soon Huat-Shevon's best finishing was reaching the semi-finals in 2020.