Jun Hao out to raise a few eyebrows in world debut
Despite going through a difficult year so far, Jun Hao has still managed to topple the likes of China's world No. 4 Li Shifeng, Indonesia's world No. 5 Jonatan Christie and Japan's Kodai Naraoka (No. 8).
The world No. 25 though has not managed to remain consistent throughout a tournament and is keen to improve his record in the world meet.
'I'm excited to get to play in the World Championships for the first time. I'm hoping to get a positive result by pulling off a few upsets,' said Jun Hao after a training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
'In a major tournament, everyone has chances to do well. I'm taking it one match at a time as always.
'Every match is a challenge that I need to overcome and I want to play my best.
'In training, I have been focusing on improving my strategies and consistency during matches,' added Jun Hao.
As part of his preparations for the prestigious meet, Jun Hao will head to Copenhagen for a training camp with the Denmark national team from Aug 18-22.
Singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen, who was head coach of Denmark before joining the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in January, was instrumental in arranging the training camp in an effort to provide Jun Hao and women's singles player K. Letshanaa with some quality sparring sessions before the Paris showpiece.
'Although there is not a lot of time to learn new things, this is a chance to have some quality sparring in a different environment,' said Jun Hao.
'This is the first time I will be experiencing something like this before a big tournament.
'Kenneth has connections as he was the head coach there, so this is a good initiative from him.'
Jun Hao's best performance in his career so far came in the World Tour Super 500 Japan Masters last November where he finished runners-up to Shifeng.
The 26-year-old though has struggled to replicate the form he showed in the tourney, with his best showing this year coming in the Singapore Open in May where he made it to the quarter-finals.
In the World Championships, Liew Daren was the last Malaysian to win a medal in the men's singles when he claimed bronze in the 2018 edition in Nanjing.
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