In a tough season, Jason Teh earns a spot in Korea Masters final
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Singapore's Jason Teh (above) beat Japan's Shogo Ogawa on Nov 8 to advance to the Korea Masters men's singles final.
PHOTO: BADMINTONPHOTO
Follow topic:
- Jason Teh reached the Korea Masters final after working on consistency following numerous early exits this season.
- Despite a late wobble, he beat Shogo Ogawa in the semi-finals, displaying powerful smashes and improved control.
- Teh needs to stay calm and patient in the final against Yudai Okimoto, focusing on consistency and mental fortitude, according to coach Kim Ji-hyun.
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SINGAPORE – Jason Teh’s first full season on the Badminton World Federation World Tour has been both rewarding and humbling.
He started his campaign well by qualifying for the men’s singles final at the Syed Modi India International first international title at the Thailand Masters in February
But the hectic schedule of competing against the world’s best soon caught up with him, as the 25-year-old Singaporean suffered 11 first-round exits in the next 16 tournaments.
After yet another early exit at the French Open on Oct 22, the world No. 26 returned to the drawing board, flying back to Singapore to work on basic drills and consistency for a couple of weeks.
The practice sessions paid off, as Teh found his winning form to advance to the Nov 9 singles final of the US$240,000 (S$312,000) Korea Masters.
On Nov 8, he beat the 114th-ranked Shogo Ogawa 21-12, 21-18 in the semi-finals to set up a clash against another Japanese, world No. 62 Yudai Okimoto, at the Wonkwang University Cultural and Sports Centre in Jeonbuk.
He told The Sunday Times: “There is so much more for me to learn and I have learnt so much from the many defeats over this season. For example, I still need to be more consistent in order to challenge the top-level players.
“This is also why I have been working on my consistency in the way I execute all my strokes during the practice sessions in the past few weeks.”
Against Ogawa, Teh was near-unstoppable after losing the first two points. The top seed then led 11-9 at the interval, before pulling away with a combination of fire and finesse, mixing booming smashes of up to 470 kmh with deceptive and well-placed shots.
He carried over this form into the second game and raced to a seemingly unassailable 20-11 lead, but wobbled as Ogawa saved seven match points before caving.
Teh said: “Today’s experience will help me stay calm when I am in the lead and play point by point. I will be treating the final like any other normal match and I’m not going to overthink it.”
Earlier in the event, he defeated Indonesian Yohanes Marcellyno (103rd) and local players Kim Byung-jae (102nd) and Cho Geon-yeop (92nd) in straight games, as other seeds fell by the wayside.
National singles head coach Kim Ji-hyun was pleased with his performances, adding: “Jason has been attacking well with a good variety of effective smashes and was also able to anticipate his opponents’ shots.
“But in the second game today, he was rushing too much to close the match and allowed his opponent back in.
“We still need to work on the mental aspects of his game.”
