KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai will head to Tokyo later this month for their fourth consecutive badminton World Championships with an eye on the podium.
The world No 14 narrowly missed out on a medal in Huelva, Spain, last year after losing to eventual champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
Buoyed by their semi-final outing at the Singapore Open last month, the independent duo believe they stand a fighting chance and are eager to go one better at least.
Their optimism is boosted by the draw, which sees them avoiding heavyweights -world No 1 Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong, Olympic gold medallists Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping and Dechapol-Sapsiree — in the same half.
Soon Huat-Shevon are in the same half as second seeds Dechapol-Sapsiree but will not meet them before the semis.
To get to the medal round, Soon Huat-Shevon have to overcome the formidable Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue of France and Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan in the potential last 16 and last eight hurdles.
"Our draw isn't bad although we'll be up against a strong young French pair in the third round, I think we have a good chance," said Shevon.
"As for Yuta-Arisa, we lost to them in straight games at the Thailand Open recently, but it was a closely contested match. We've gotten some ideas from that battle, so hopefully we'll be able to subdue them if we meet again.
"But having said that, the most important thing for me and Soon Huat is to focus right from the first match.
"We have learned from experiences. On many occasions, we actually messed up our game due to our eagerness to win."
Soon Huat-Shevon, seeded 11th, got a first round bye. They will only open their campaign against England's Gregory Mairs-Jenny Moore or Venkat Prasad-Juhi Dewangan of India.
Koo Kien Keat-Wong Pei Tty are Malaysia's only mixed doubles medallists in the world meet (they won bronze in Madrid, 2006).
