Jaspar Yu Woon Chai poses for a photo with Brunei’s SEA Games badminton coach, Mohamad Zuni Kartono bin Haji Ali. – PHOTOS: JAMES KON
Jaspar Yu Woon Chai rises up for a smash during a training session
IN PREPARATION for the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur this month, national badminton athlete Jaspar Yu Woon Chai recently attended a training camp in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and trained for a week under former Malaysian professional badminton player, Koo Kien Keat.
The training sessions have given the badminton Olympian invaluable lessons to fine-tune his game.
Competing in the SEA Games for the first time, the 28-year-old said he has learnt a lot from Khoo and admitted his upcoming journey will be tough.
“I have really enjoyed the training in KL with Koo Kien Keat, a well-known figure in the sport of badminton.
“He (Khoo Kien Kiat) gave me a lot of pointers like service to footwork as well as hitting the shuttlecock the right way. He has really fine-tuned my game. It was nice to work with him. He has a good sense of humour, (but) also gives you responsibility to work hard on your game. When he sees things that are not up to his standard, he will straight away point them out,” Jaspar said when met after his training session at the Menglait Sports Complex.
“Currently, the most important thing for me is the quality of preparation so that I will be able to play well when I am in Malaysia.
“This SEA Games will be tough especially when all countries are also aiming for gold. I just have to prepare my best and give a good fight. Everyone wants to win a medal including myself, but I will take one game at a time.
“Since this is my first SEA Games, it is very important for me to do well,” he added.
Meanwhile, SEA Games badminton coach, Mohamad Zuni Kartono bin Haji Ali commented, “Coaches in Kuala Lumpur have expressed that Jaspar has shown vast improvement after the training.”
As a coach, he hopes Jaspar will perform his best in the region’s biggest sporting competition and it will be a pride of the nation if he can win a medal for the country.
He also revealed that Jaspar will be in Kuala Lumpur early for sparring training and Badminton Asia Confederation also has agreed to provide training for Jaspar while waiting for the SEA Games to commence.
