After almost a year-long injury hiatus, women’s doubles player Anna Cheong is set to return to the badminton court at the China Open in September. The 25-year-old suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture in her right leg last year and had surgery a month later. This forced her to stay away from tournaments for almost a year. Her last competition with partner Teoh Mei Xing was the Japan Open in September 2020. Anna’s comeback at the super 1000 China Open in Changzhou will mark exactly one year since her absence from the game.
Mei Xing, on the other hand, had been focusing on mixed doubles with Hoo Pang Ron. The pair, under the coaching of Nova Widianto, has been making good progress and is currently ranked world No. 37. During Anna’s absence, Mei Xing partnered with Go Pei Kee in several tournaments to keep her touch with women’s doubles.
Anna-Mei Xing had shown great potential before the injury setback, and Rexy Mainaky, the national doubles coaching director, wants to see their partnership gradually rebuilt. Rexy stated, “Anna’s condition is much better, and we are not having any expectations on the pair. We just want to see how far this pair can go. Anna has had a very long lay-off since the injury, and we have to give them time.”
In July 2020, Anna-Mei Xing surprised the badminton world by defeating South Korea’s then world No. 3 women’s doubles pair Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan and Japan’s world No. 4 pair Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara, reaching the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open and the Malaysian Masters. They also qualified for the World Championships in Tokyo last year.
The national women’s doubles coach, Hoon Thien How, intends to proceed with caution and ensure that Anna avoids further injuries. It has been almost a year since Anna-Mei Xing last played in a tournament, so their form will be tested at the China Open, which has attracted many of the top 20 pairs. Despite the challenging draw, both Anna and Mei Xing are delighted to have a second chance to rebuild their careers.
