KUALA LUMPUR: All eyes will be on Leong Jun Hao to carry Malaysia's hopes in the men's singles event at next week's Malaysia Open following world No. 6 Lee Zii Jia's withdrawal.
Jun Hao, ranked world No. 29, faces a tricky opening-round match against China's world No. 16 Lu Guang Zu, a player with victories over several top shuttlers.
National singles coach Kenneth Jonassen, who officially assumed his position at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) today, said Jun Hao must raise his game to prevail next week.
The Dane is also confident that his assistant, K. Yogendran, who has guided Jun Hao for the past three months, will help the shuttler do well.
"There are no easy draws in Super 1000 events, and it will definitely be tough for Jun Hao against Guang Zu," said Jonassen.
"However, it will be interesting to see how he performs against a top-20 player.
"This is just the beginning of my journey here. I'll be taking the second chair as an observer while letting Yogendran take the lead. It wouldn't be right for me to step in immediately."
Jun Hao has shown decent progress under Yogendran, making a breakthrough at the Kumamoto Masters in November, where he finished runner-up in the Super 500 tournament.
Jonassen revealed he won't be making immediate changes to the current training programme for the next three weeks to avoid disrupting preparations for the India Open (Jan 14-19) and the Indonesia Masters (Jan 21-26).
However, the Danish coach's tactical acumen is expected to provide Jun Hao with valuable insights ahead of his opening-round clash with Guang Zu in the tournament, which starts on Tuesday.
National coaching director Rexy Mainaky also urged Jun Hao, a former Asian Junior champion, to capitalise on his current good form and make a strong impact at the Malaysia Open.
"Jun Hao has a tough draw, but he could spring a few surprises. We expect him to replicate his Kumamoto Masters performance here," said Rexy.
At the Kumamoto Masters, Jun Hao defeated several top-10 players, including India's Lakshya Sen (No. 12), Japan's Koki Watanabe (No. 11) and Kodai Naraoka (No. 8), and Indonesia's Jonatan Christie (No. 3), before losing in the final.