KUALA LUMPUR: The husband and wife badminton team of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Lai have switched roles. And it has paid off.
This now involves Shevon at the front and Soon Huat at the back in mixed doubles action.
The new approach saw the independent pair surprising the form book in the World Tour Finals (WTF) in Hangzhou where they reached the semi-finals.
The main protagonist in the offensive switch is now Shevon who controls the front court to set up her husband to unleash his powerful smashes.
The attacking approach has taken their rivals by surprise, and Shevon, 31, aims to deploy the same tactics on the World Tour next year despite their advancing age.
"In recent times, I try to step up more infront to be in control instead of just lifting the shuttle. The faster attacking play has given us a little more edge," said Shevon.
"We intend to keep working on it and have faith in our style to challenge our rivals."
Their attacking style nearly saw them beating compatriots Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei in a Group B match in three games on Wednesday. However, they bounced back to floor Japan's world No. 21 Hidori Midorikawa-Natsu Saito in straight games on Thursday.
A day later, despite badly bruising his ribs in a dive, Soon Huat and Shevon beat Indonesia's world No. 13 Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja to book a semi-final spot.
Unfortunately, Soon Huat, 34, playing with bruised ribs — which restricted his smashing abilities — and Shevon lost in the last four to Tang Jie-Ee Wei on Saturday.
Despite the defeat, the husband-and-wife pair will be pleased with their extraordinary run on the World Tour this year where they won the Malaysian Masters and Swiss Open and finished second in the China Open.
The world No. 10 pair aim to make a strong impact at the Malaysia Open on Jan 7-12 with their new attack-oriented style.