Asia Team Championships: Kisona aims to end eight-month winless streak

Malaysian women's singles shuttler S. Kisona wants to get out of her winless slump when the Asia Team Championships gets underway next week in Shah Alam.

Since winning the Spanish International in June last year by defeating former national team-mate Goh Jin Wei in straight games, Kisona failed to win a single competitive match.

The streak began at the Sudirman Cup in September where she lost all four of her matches, and continued until the BWF World Championships in December where she suffered a straight-game defeat to Turkey’s Neslihan Yigit.

In between all that, that was a racist incident directed at her that severely affected her mental health.

Desperate to start the New Year with a bang, Kisona vowed to go into this event with confidence.

“We have to be confident. Confidence can do many things, including turning any situation into a good one. That is what I want to instill when I get on court.

“Overall the mood in the camp has been good. We have a good bond, display great team-work and are confident of doing well. It is important for us to implement what we have learnt in practice, as Japan and India will be tough opponents.

“Even though both teams are not sending their top shuttlers, their upcoming shuttlers are pretty good too,” she said.

As the first women's singles player, the world number 64 would most likely face Japan's Natsuki Nidaira and Aakarshi Kashyap of India in the group stage.

In the last edition in 2020, the Malaysian women’s team made the semi-finals before going down 3-0 to Japan.

Kisona was fielded as the third singles in that edition behind Soniia Cheah and Goh, doing well to beat Aya Ohori in the group stage.

Eoon Qi Xuan, Siti Nurshuhaini, Myisha Khairul and Tan Zhing Yi are part of this year's women’s singles team.