National singles coach Kenneth Jonassen has always beared the brunt for Malaysian players performance.
At the Malaysia Masters 2025, the home shuttlers — World No. 25 Leong Jun Hao, Justin Hoh (world No. 45), Ng Tze Yong (No. 239) and women’s world No. 51 K. Letshanaa — crashed out in the first round.
“I always feel the pressure because I want to see my shuttlers win,” said Jonassen.
“My job is to find the positives, even in defeat, and move on.
“Of course I’m disappointed. We don’t like to lose, especially when the players don’t fully capitalise on the opportunities created on court.”
Jonassen, however, wants the Malaysian to continue on the development path.
“We always make minor adjustments when we learn something new, but we don’t stray from our development path. That’s how you grow and move forward.”
There are injury concerns to address too. Tze Yong suffered a knee injury against Hong Kong’s Angus Ng on Wednesday while Jun Hao carried minor elbow injury and struggled in his 10-21, 21-18, 21-9 defeat to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen.
Talking about the same, Jonnassen said, “I can’t comment yet on the extent of the injury,” said Jonassen.
“But I’d say this was his best level since the comeback. He was playing aggressively.
“It’s one of the worst things to see a player walk off with an injury.”
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