Badminton: Letshanaa wants to use Asiad lesson to reach greater heights

HANGZHOU - National woman singles shuttler K. Letshanaa hopes to use her Asian Games debut as a springboard to achieve greater heights.

This comes after the 20-year-old was sent packing 13-21, 10-21 by former world number 10 Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand in the second round of the quadrennial Games at the Binjiang Gymnasium yesterday.

"The match didn’t go as planned, but it was good to go up against this type of player. At least, we have different types of games, can learn more by playing against these kinds of top players and rectify our weaknesses.

"Although I have played against some other top shuttlers before, it was still a good experience against Busanan. Her game is different from others in terms of strength and power. I still have a lot of things to improve on,” she told Bernama.

World number 60 Letshanaa, however, is not shaken by the defeat. Instead, she has vowed to continue her progress by learning from the Asiad exposure.

She admitted that having the opportunity to play in big tournaments, such as the Asian Games, definitely served as a good chance to test herself against some of the world's best.

"The advice given by my coaches was to just do my best and execute what I have learned in my training. So, (that way) they can see the problems I have from playing against the top players and they can then help me to improve in training,” she added.

Letshanaa will next compete in the Arctic Open, a Super 500 event on the World Tour, in Vanta, Finland from Oct 10-15. - BERNAMA