All-England: Hope on men’s singles and doubles to spring a surprise

All systems go: Lee Zii Jia won’t be alone in his quest to defend his All-England title. Men’s doubles pairs (from top right) Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani will be out to prove their worth too.

PETALING JAYA: Can Malaysia dare to dream for a double in this year’s All-England?

It sounds plausible in the men’s singles and doubles events, but it all depends on the form, fire and luck to some extent as Lee Zii Jia, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi begin their campaign in the prestigious tournament starting today in Birmingham.

The 24-year-old Zii Jia shocked everyone last year when he defeated two giants – Kento Momota of Japan (quarter-finals) and Viktor Axelsen of Denmark (final) for his maiden All-England title when he was least expected to do so.

This time, he will be under the spotlight as an independent player trying to prove a point.

While there are the usual suspects to deal with like Axelsen, Momota, Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan, K. Srikanth of India, Anders Antonsen of Denmark, Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew and Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting and Jonatan Christie, there are also the players in their 20s like Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, India’s Lakshya Sen, Christo Popov of France, Brian Yang of Canada who are ripping apart the formbook.

Zii Jia’s coach Indra Wijaya believes his charge is in the right path although he went down tamely to German Open champion Kunlavut in the semi-finals last week.

“He is still driven and motivated,” said Indra.

As for the men’s doubles, former All-England champion Tan Boon Heong says Malaysia have more options now to challenge for honours following Sze Fei-Izzuddin’s sensational German Open win on Sunday.

“We used to depend on one pair, now we have three who can challenge for the title,” said Boon Heong.

“It was nice to see Sze Fei-Izzuddin winning the German Open. Their speed and pace have improved and there was quality in their smashing and tactical game.

“They however, still have room to mature in their service taking and netplay but it’s a good start, hopefully they can sustain.”

Boon Heong is also positive of Malaysia’s chances as he feels that the competition in the doubles has been thrown open.

“When Koo and I played, we had Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (Chn), Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung (Kor), Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan (Ina), Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan (Ina), Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen (Den)... it was tough,” said Boon Heong, who won the 2007 edition with Kien Keat after beating Haifeng-Cai Yun in the final.

“Now, except for Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya (Ina) and Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn), it’s wide open. Just look at the last few tournaments, how unpredictable the competition has become,” he said.

“Besides, there could be some element of luck too. With the Covid-19 problem still there, we don’t really know who will withdraw from the tournament.

“If our boys can play true to their form, I believe they have a shot this time,” said Boon Heong, who has also made a trip to Birmingham this year.

Besides watching the action, Boon Heong hopes to capture some moments behind the scene to entertain his badminton fans.

“I’m here with a videographer and hope to share some of the off-court antics and fun video clips of the players, just to make the event more exciting,” added Boon Heong, who has 27.2k followers on Instagram.