KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s badminton team hopes to reduce its dependency on star shuttler Lee Zii Jia in the men’s singles event at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship (BAMTC) 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on February 14-19.
Badminton Association of Malaysia singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann said this when met at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara, here today.
He noted that the coaching team decided to apply a rotation system in fielding players, which involved listing Leong Jun Hao as part of the national contingent apart from the world No. 4 independent player, Zii Jia.
“We will discuss this in detail as we inch closer to the event date. We will analyse each of their condition and how they feel about a particular match.
“We respect any input from players of which match would they feel more confident to play in and take everything into consideration,” said the former world No. 1 shuttler.
However, Choong Hann added he would be unable to reveal the strategy for the time being, but they have got a picture of who they would want to field for each match.
Ahead of the BAMTC, Choong Hann also confirmed that the centralised training between the national and independent players will begin next week.
He said the sessions would help everyone to build cohesiveness amongst the players, particularly in controlling the shuttle and moves on the court.
“I do not think their physical condition and stamina would be an issue here, but I think we need to fine-tune our tactics for it to be seamless.
“The problem now is the switching between tactics of some of these players is not yet smooth. There have been too many gaps that their opponents were able to capitalise on to score points against them.
“We will train together to build the team’s cohesiveness as well as familiarise everyone’s gameplay and support each other.”
In the third edition of the biennial tournament, Malaysia has been drawn in Group B with India, Kazakhstan, and the UAE.
Only the top four teams from BAMTC will be automatically qualified for the Sudirman Cup in May.
So far, Malaysia has yet to win the title since it was held in 2017. – The Vibes, February 3, 2023
