PETALING JAYA: Malaysia could not have asked for a tougher draw at the Asian Junior Badminton Championships, which will be held in Bangkok from July 9-17.
Malaysia, seeded joint fifth-eighth for the mixed team event, are in a tough Group C with third seeds Indonesia, Taiwan, Myanmar and Mongolia.
Malaysia, who last won the title in 2009, need to top the group to avoid a clash with top seeds and defending champions China in the quarter-finals.
China, who have won the title three years in a row, are in Group A with South Korea, Singapore and Kazakhstan.
“It looks incredibly tough for us in the team event. It can’t get any worse than needing to beat both Indonesia and Taiwan to top the group,” said Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) technical director Morten Frost.
In the individual events, reigning world junior champion Goh Jin Wei is the girls’ singles second seed.
The 16-year-old, who is bidding to win her first Asian Junior title, won’t have it easy as she’s tipped to meet China’s world No. 48 Chen Yufei in the semi-finals.
“The pressure is certainly on Jin Wei. It will not be easy for her to live up to her status as the world junior champion,” said Frost.
The only other Malaysian juniors to be seeded are Lee Zii Jia and Soh Wooi Yik-Ooi Zi Heng.
Zii Jia, the Dutch Junior Open winner, is the fourth seed in boys’ singles while Wooi Yik-Zi Heng are seeded sixth in boys’ doubles.
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