J’can badminton player honing skills in Malaysia
JAMAICA’S number two badminton player, 20-year-old Gareth Henry, is determined to focus on his training even as his world ranking drops by 49 places.
Now ranked 300 in the world, down from 251, Henry, who is now training in Malaysia, said: “It has been great so far… training is at a much higher level than what I was used to. But I’m in my second month and have gotten used to it.
“My ranking has dropped because I have chosen to train instead of entering tournaments back to back. When I have reached a certain level, I will start to enter more tournaments and there will be improvement on my ranking for sure,” explained Henry.
In the only tournament he played so far this year, the Smiling Fish International Series in Thailand last April, Henry got by seventh seed Singapore’s Andrianus Prasojo Adi who retired hurt 21-14, but lost in the second round to Thai’s Sitthikom Thammasin, who won 21-17, 21-6.
Thammasin was knocked out in the quarter-finals.
“I would say my performance showed improvement, but I was disappointed not to go further,” he added.
Henry is currently training with Malaysian number three and an All England Open winner, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, who is ranked number 42 in the world.
He has words of encouragement to junior players wanting to train in a badminton-nation such as Malaysia.
“Stay focused and remember what you want to achieve while you’re here and not put too much pressure yourself. Just take it day by day and do the best you can each day,” he pointed out.
Is Henry hopeful of making it to the 2012 London Olympics?
“If at the end of day I don’t make it, I will have no regrets because I know I did my part and it will put me in an even better position to make it to the next Olympics,” he said.
Henry’s next major tournament is the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico on October 15-20 this year.