13 Jan Peng Soon-Liu Ying Hungry for First Title of the Year

Reignited by his mixed doubles partner’s return, Chan Peng Soon is now ready to challenge for more championships, starting with the Perodua Malaysia Masters 2018 (PMM2018) presented by Daihatsu which will commence from 16th to 21st January 2018 at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur Sports City.

Peng Soon and long-time partner, Goh Liu Ying has returned to the national team fold after Liu Ying’s long injury layoff forced the pair to separate for majority of last year.

It has been smooth sailing for the pair despite not playing together for a while as Liu Ying, alongside youngster Chen Tang Jie, won the India International Series 2017 in her return to competitive action while Peng Soon captured the gold medal in the Russian Open with Cheah Yee See last year.

Peng Soon expressed his eagerness to once again playing alongside his regular partner and revive the glory days.
“It’s all going good so far during trainings. We have been training for two months now and we have to work on our form and chemistry again after not playing together for a long time but I am excited that we are back playing alongside each other,” said Peng Soon when met during the SS Purple League 2017/18.

With the PMM2018 fast approaching, Peng Soon added that it is a good chance for him and Liu Ying to regain the confidence of playing together and shine in front of the home crowd.

“It is an added advantage to play in front of our home fans. We hope that that will spur us on to perform even better,” said the 29-year old.

“For now we will hope to win gold in the Thailand Masters. Then we aim to go all the way and win this year’s Malaysia Masters as well. This is important as winning back-to-back titles so early in the year will give us a major confidence boost. So we will work hard on achieving that,” added the Rio Olympic silver medallist.

Peng Soon and Liu Ying are off to a good start at the turn of the year as they have progressed to the final of the Thailand Masters 2018 and will take on the Thai pair of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Puttita Supajirakul tomorrow.

But the pair will have some tough assignments at hand in the PMM next week as they will face the likes of Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (World No. 4), Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (World No. 8), Kim Ha Na-Seo Seung Jae (World No. 9) and even defending champions and fellow national teammates, Lai Pei Jing-Tan Kian Meng.

The PMM2018 was upgraded to a Grade 2 Level 4 BWF World Tour (Super Series) status as of 2018 hence the number of high-profile players signing up.

Tickets are already on sale and are priced from RM18 to RM75 ranging from three different categories (upper, lower, premium) for adults while tickets for children aged 4 to 18 years old will enjoy 50% off adult prices right up till the quarter final stage. Fans will also have a choice of buying season tickets. More details are available at http://www.myticket.asia/.