| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam badminton player Jaspar Yu will be continuing his pursuit towards meeting the international level set by world class competitors in the Yonex Open Chinese Taipei 2017 from June 27 to July 2.
The national shuttler is in the main draw and will be meeting home-based opponent Chun-Wei Chen in the first round.
He admitted that preparations are quite tough but he vowed to do his best throughout the month.
“In the morning, I go to the gym as usual and in the afternoon I have one and a half hour of court time. It is not enough but I have to make full use of the hours that I have,” said Jaspar.
“I haven’t set any targets but the good news is I’m in the main draw. I’ll just take one game at a time and see how well I can progress.”
Jaspar Yu has vowed to continue his pursuit to meet the international level in the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open. – FADHIL YUNUS
Jaspar has been actively competing in the international scene having played mostly in the region since representing his country in the Rio Olympics last year.
His biggest tournament to date this year is the Badminton Asian Championships last April.
“Every tournament there is bound to be a valuable experience. Every tournament has a very different feeling and courts are different.
“The environment is different so I’m going to soak all the experience that I gain abroad and hopefully can apply towards future tournaments.
“Basically my aim of participating in international tournaments is to be able to catch up on international level.
“The level in Brunei is not so high yet so I need to constantly break the barrier between Brunei level to international level,” he added.
“At this moment I’m trying to break that level and I’m challenging myself.”
The first Brunei Olympian in badminton will be studying his opponents’ performance with the aid of video analysis and preparing his tactics as part of his preparation for the Taipei meet.
Jaspar will be provided opportunities to do sparring with players from other countries once he reaches Taipei.
“Throughout the period of four to five days, I will always have different sparring partners. It is a time for me to test myself as well.”
Meanwhile, Jaspar and Mattew Lingie Anak Miggat will be attending the Asia Olympic Project (AOP) Training Camp in Kuala Lumpur.
Asia Olympic Project is Badminton Asia’s player development initiative. The AOP consists of the training opportunities and competition scholarship for players from developing countries organised by Badminton Asia in accordance to the Badminton Asia Strategic Plan 2013-2016.
“The objective is to support member associations across Asia to help and support the players in joining the International Series and also to further train the players,” said Zuno Kartono, Brunei Darussalam National Badminton Association assistant secretary.
The players who will be taking part in the AOP are mainly from developing badminton nations such as Brunei, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka.
They will attend a centralised training in a better facility whereby there are opportunities to showcase their skills.
Jaspar, who already had experience last year, indicated that the training is full time.
The national shuttler said that the AOP personally benefited him, especially gearing up to regional tournaments.
“In Brunei I rarely get a full time training schedule. So when I go out and get full time training, firstly it is good for my fitness and it is good for me to keep up with international level.”
The AOP training camp is usually in conjunction with a tournament and the upcoming one will be in conjunction with the Celcom Axiata Malaysia International Series 2017.
Zuno is currently tasked with the responsibility of sending a representative to AOP but he is not the only one central in the selection with another coach from the junior development providing knowledge on the up and coming players in Brunei.
The assistant secretary, who is close with Badminton Asia, could also gain feedback from the coaches and will then relay it to the coaches in Brunei to help the player develop even further.
As the Grand Prix Gold ranked event clashes with the Taipei tournament, Jaspar will only be joining Mattew in the second week of the Asia Olympics Project training camp.
Jaspar will also be turning his attentions to another competition in Kuala Lumpur after the training camp which is an International Series event.
The national shuttler reached a career rank high of 211 this week and will be working hard towards reaching the top 200.
“It is great that I’m progressing but I hope to do better again this year. Hopefully I can hit the top 200 mark,” he said.
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