KUALA LUMPUR – Heading for the biggest badminton tournament on the calendar, all Malaysian shuttlers competing in the 2022 BWF World Championships in Tokyo will have a target, said Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) high-performance director Tim Jones.
Speaking to The Vibes, he said the expectation will be for each player to display their best performance.
For Commonwealth Games silver medallist Ng Tze Yong, Jones said if the 22-year-old can maintain his upward trajectory, he may well make it to the quarter-finals.
Making his World Championships debut, 42nd-seed Tze Yong will take on Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the first round, while veteran Liew Daren will have an uphill challenge against top-ranked Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Scheduled from August 22 until 28, the World Championships will also be fifth-ranked Lee Zii Jia’s first appearance since the Malaysia Open in June as he takes on Frenchman Brice Leverdez in the opening round.
Zii Jia skipped the recently concluded Commonwealth Games to focus on the World Championships, with his compatriot and rising star Tze Yong replacing him and snatching silver at the Games.
Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles, four pairings of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi will move on to the second round as they have all been awarded first-round byes.
For Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, I believe they can make it all the way to the finals,” Jones said.
Jones added that he and doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky believe players should step on the court with a winning mentality that would drive them to keep pushing on, regardless of who stands in front of them.
In the women’s doubles, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah – having been awarded a first-round bye – will either play compatriots Low Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow or India’s Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand.
If they make it to the round of 16, (there is a) high chance they will play (fifth-ranked) Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida. That’s their target, anything past that will be a bonus for them,” said Jones of the Commonwealth Games women’s doubles gold medallists.
At the same time, the pair of Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing and Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien will take on German shuttlers Stine Kuespert-Emma Moszczynski and Linda Efler-Isabel Lohau, respectively.
In the women’s singles category, Soniia Cheah will make her first appearance since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and faces a first-round match against Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia, while S. Kisona will play Vietnam’s Vu Thi Trang.
Mixed-doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Lai Shevon Jemie and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also got a first-round bye, but Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei will play the opening round against Americans Mathew Fogarty-Isabel Zhong. – The Vibes, August 13, 2022
