BY RUDDY ALLEN Observer staff reporter
Friday, December 26, 2014
JAMAICA’S number one male badminton player Gareth Henry crashed out of the Puerto Rico International Tournament when he was beaten by Howard Shu from the United States of America (USA) in the third round of the competition in Puerto Rico on Monday.
Henry played valiantly and could have upset the number one seed Shu, but seemed to have lost his focus and went crashing in a thrilling three- setter 21-18, 21-23 and 14-21 in his last international tournament of 2014.
Henry, however, should gain some valuable points for his world rankings, which will now boost his process of qualifying for the Olympics set for Rio 2016.
“I really thought I was going to win this one, but tactically I wasn’t at my best. Many points I had the upper hand in and didn’t capitalise on them as I wasn’t aggressive enough in the front court to finish them. Then I rushed too many overhead shots and made a little too many unforced errors in doing so.
“But that is what makes the difference against players of this calibre. I must work on finding the balance now,” Henry said.
As the 2014 tournament circuit ends, Henry is ready to shuttle into 2015 as he gets prepared for Rio 2016. He now heads to Indonesia for eight weeks of intense training.
“Disappointed with the loss, but I took a lot from it. This was my final tournament of the 2014 circuit. I will hopefully get two proper months of training in Indonesia with the help of the Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA). I am very excited about the possibility as I will finally receive good sparring and training of the highest level,” Henry noted.
Earlier in the competition, Henry easily defeated Germany’s top player Nilis Kloeppel 21-17 and 21-11 in the first round before he went on to beat Puerto Rican Ivan Morales 21-12 and 21-7 in the second round.
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Gareth Henry values lessons learnt at Puerto Rico International
