KUALA LUMPUR: There has been no confirmation on when national mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai will return to competitive action.
That is because Soon Huat is still complaining of pain, even after recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered late last month.
National mixed doubles coach, Chin Eei Hui, although hesitant, admitted that the World No 13 pair risk losing their chance of making their debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics if they do not play soon.
Eei Hui said today: “Soon Huat recently started light training but he is still complaining of pain.
“We really don't know how severe his injury is because even after doing an MRI scan, we couldn't find anything wrong.”
The former Malaysian No 1 got off to a decent start this season when they reached two quarter-finals and two semi-finals, including the All England in March.
But it started going downhill for the duo, when Soon Huat, 30, began experiencing a series of unfortunate events.
From a dizzy spell, to a thigh muscle pull and the hamstring injury, Soon Huat-Shevon were also forced to skip a couple of tournaments, with the Australian Open earlier this month being the most recent.
Eei Hui revealed that the 2018 Singapore Open champions may miss out on the Indonesia and Japan Opens next month.
“I can't say anything right now. There are still about three weeks to go, so let's hope Soon Huat can recover by then, but if he doesn't, it will affect their Olympic qualifying campaign,” Eei Hui added.
Rio Olympic Games silver medallists, Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying are currently Malaysia's highest ranked mixed doubles at No 5 in the world, followed by Soon Huat-Shevon, and World No 18, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, who are on a comeback trail.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing are also likely to overtake their unlucky teammates, if they can find a breakthrough in the next few tournaments, according to Eei Hui.