KUALA LUMPUR: Buoyed by his creditable performance in the recent Thomas Cup in Chengdu, China, men's singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao is eager to kick-start his World Tour campaign again.
Next week, Jun Hao will compete in the Thailand Open in Bangkok and he has been promoted to the main draw of the Malaysia Masters the following week.
The 25-year-old has also been training alongside Denmark's world No. 4, Anders Antonsen, at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara.
The Dane, who has recently made Malaysia a temporary stop before tournaments in Asia, began training at ABM on Monday.
World No. 37 Jun Hao, who was Malaysia's second singles in the Thomas Cup, impressed by defeating higher-ranked opponents like Hong Kong's Angus Ng and Japan's Koki Watanabe, ultimately inspiring the team to their first world team championships semi-finals in eight years.
His only defeats in the Thomas Cup were against Antonsen in Malaysia's 3-2 loss to Denmark in the group stage and in the last four against Asian Games champion Li Shi Feng of China.
"I'm enjoying good form and feeling upbeat after the Thomas Cup.
"I'm looking forward to playing in the World Tour again and hopefully maintaining the same momentum.
"Right now, I don't have a specific target. I just want to do well and improve my ranking," Jun Hao told Timesport.
The former Asian junior champion added that he started training alongside Antonsen on Tuesday after returning from the Thomas Cup.
"It's always a good experience to train with top players. Antonsen is the world No. 4, and I can learn a lot," said Jun Hao, who will face Taiwan's Su Li Yang in the Thailand Open first round.
The other Malaysian men's singles player in the fray is world No. 10 Lee Zii Jia, but it remains to be seen if the shuttler will compete or withdraw.
On Wednesday, the Badminton World Federation stated that a redraw had to be conducted across all five disciplines of the Thailand Open after an anomaly was detected in the Seeding Report.
Earlier, Timesport reported that many top players had opted to skip the Thailand Open and Malaysia Masters due to tight scheduling and to focus on their Paris Olympics preparations.
