Justin out to justify long and co$tly trip to US

The Star

12 hours ago

National men's singles shuttler Justin Hoh. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: It will be a long and expensive trip to the United States and Canada for men's singles shuttler Justin Hoh but he plans to make it worthwhile.
Justin is set to compete in the back-to-back US Open in Iowa from June 24-29 and Canada Open in Markham from July 1-6 for the first time and wants to make the most of the opportunity in the World Tour Super 300 level tourneys.
"It will be my first time playing in US and Canada and the flight takes nearly one whole day. It will be my longest flight," said Justin after a training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
"Going to US is really very expensive too and I want to thank BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia) for sending me. I hope I can get good results in these two tournaments."
World No. 42 Justin though knows he needs to raise his game in US as the competition has also attracted the likes of Taiwan's world No. 6 Chou Tien-chen and Japan's world No. 12 Kenta Nishimoto.
Justin will open his campaign against Belgium's world No. 61 Julien Carraggi and could go up against Nishimoto if he reaches the quarter-finals.
Despite the possible tough match-up against the Japanese, the 21-year-old hopes a solid four weeks of preparation will pay off.
"Nowadays, even Super 300 tournaments are not easy to play in as there will be top players there too. My preparation has been good though. I had four weeks of solid training," said Justin.
"B efore that, I had many tournaments and not much time to train. I have been trying to be in my best physical condition."
Justin is hoping for better fortunes after a difficult year so far.
His best performance came in the Taiwan Open last month where he made it to the last eight.
"There have been ups and downs. My performance has not been stable. I have so many things to learn," said Justin.
"When compared to the top players, I am still lacking speed, strength and experience. I hope the next six months will be better for me."