KUALA LUMPUR – The participation of the national men’s squad in the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) in Shah Alam on February 15-20 will be regarded as a failure if they do not reach the final, according to the country’s men’s top singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia.
Zii Jia, who is targeting his team to finish BATC champions, said Malaysia should take advantage of the weakened field as some of the top teams won’t be featuring their star players in the tournament to be held at the Setia City Convention Centre.
“To be honest, I don’t want to put pressure but most other teams are sending a second-string line-up, so of course I want us to be champions or at least reach the final.
“If we don’t reach the final, it would mean our failure, and mine too realistically because our line-up appears to be the strongest,” he told reporters after undergoing a training session at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara here today.
The men’s team are in Group B with Japan, Singapore and Kazakhstan, thus avoiding meeting three-time champions Indonesia (2016, 2018, 2020), India, South Korea and Hong Kong who are in Group A.
It is understood that current world number two Kento Momota and world number four men’s doubles pair Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan, as well as some key Indonesian shuttlers, such as Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Jonatan Christie and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, will not be coming for the BATC.
Teams such as all-conquering China, Thailand and Taiwan will be skipping this edition, and the tournament format has already been changed with no quarter-finals.
Commenting on the pivotal match between him and Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, Zii Jia said he was ready to take on the 2021 world singles champion in a showdown he deems crucial to snatch the first point for Malaysia against the republic in Group B.
Apart from Zii Jia, five other players – Ng Tze Yong, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin, Leong Jun Hao, Lim Chong King and Jacky Kok Jing Hong – will complete Malaysia’s men’s singles line-up for the biennial tournament.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will lead Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun for the men’s doubles charge.
The national women’s team, who face an uphill task after being drawn in Group Y with defending champions Japan and India, will be led by Eoon Qi Xuan, S. Kisona, Tan Zhing Yi, Siti Nurshuhaini Azman, Myisha Mohd Khairul in the singles and Pearly Tan-M Thinaah, Teoh Mei Xing-Anna Cheong, Valeree Siow-Low Yeen Yuan and Go Pei Kee in doubles.
Although Malaysia are tipped strongly to win the BATC men’s title this time, Aaron reminded his teammates not to be too confident and to fight hard in every match.
He also felt the return of Zii Jia, who is looking for “new wind in his sails”, had clearly injected fighting spirit into the men’s team.
As for Nur Izzuddin, the 25-year-old player from Muar said he did not feel stressed but feels that the advantage of playing in front of home fans could actually raise his spirits to help the team advance to the final.
Meanwhile, on the tougher passage for the national women’s team, Thinaah hoped her teammates would be able to grow in strength from match to match while Qi Xuan sees the chances quite balanced for Malaysia to advance to the semi-finals despite facing a difficult group stage.
In the women’s draw, Group Z consists of South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals and automatically qualify for the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals which will take place in Bangkok this May. – Bernama, February 11, 2022
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