Aidil armed with confidence after Thai battle
KUALA LUMPUR: Though he didn't go far in last week's Thailand Open, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin has done enough to give himself a good dose of confidence for the Malaysia Masters which starts at Axiata Arena tomorrow.
The independent shuttler did quite well in battling his way through the qualifiers and reaching the second round of the Thailand Open. He has never gone this far in a Super 500 event previously.
In Bangkok, world No. 48 Aidil put up a commendable fight against China's world No. 14 Lu Guang Zu before going down 21-18, 16-21, 14-21.
Now, the 25-year-old hopes to build on that momentum at the Malaysia Masters.
"I'm quite happy with my performance in Thailand. I was able to compete with a world top 20 player like Guang Zu," said Aidil.
He will once again have to navigate the qualifying rounds for a place in the main draw of the Malaysia Masters.
If Aidil makes the tournament proper, he will face Taiwan's world No. 7 and third seed Chou Tien Chen in the opening round. The two last met in the second round of the Taiwan Open two weeks ago, with the Malaysian losing in straight games.
"I aim to reach the main draw again, but it won't be easy," said Aidil today.
If Aidil meets Tien Chen again, the former will remind himself to be patient. "I wasn't patient enough in that match (Taiwan Open) and made too many errors. If I had reduced my mistakes, I believe the result would have been different."
Aidil, who parted ways with BAM last year to train under Indonesian Nova Armada, will meet Taiwan's world No. 79 Huang Yu Kai in the first round of the Malaysia Masters qualifiers.
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