Jun Hao delivers best when no one's watching
KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 26 Leong Jun Hao thrives when the spotlight is off — and once again proved it at the Sudirman Cup.
Despite struggling for form and facing the odds, Jun Hao pulled off back-to-back wins over France's world No. 68 Arnaud Merkle and Japan's world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka in Xiamen.
His victory gave Malaysia a 2-0 lead and a shot at beating Japan for the first time in 20 years at the Sudirman Cup.
But the team narrowly fell short, losing 3-2.
Jun Hao now hopes to ride the momentum into the Thailand Open (May 13-18) and Malaysia Masters (May 20-25), aiming for consistency on the World Tour.
"With the team counting on me at the Sudirman Cup, I had to fight — doubts only fuelled me," said Jun Hao after stunning Naraoka on Thursday.
"Hopefully, I can make some changes and be a little more consistent on the World Tour."
The men's singles ace was tipped for a breakthrough after finishing runner-up at the Kumamoto Masters in November.
There, he defeated India's world No. 18 Lakshya Sen, Japan's Koki Watanabe (No. 16), Naraoka and Indonesia's world No. 6 Jonatan Christie before falling to China's world No. 5 Li Shi Feng in the final.
But since Kumamoto, Jun Hao has struggled to deliver, crashing out in the first or second round of several World Tour events until his resurgence in Xiamen.
Remaining the underdog could be the secret to Jun Hao's success, and he'll be hoping to rattle the favourites again in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur this month.
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