Aidil surprised he made Asian meet squad but aims to make the most of it

PETALING JAYA: Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin (pic) received an unexpected surprise when he saw his name in the list of players included in the upcoming Asian Championships in the Philippines.

The national men’s singles shuttler, who is currently ranked 112nd in the world, was surprisingly given the nod ahead of higher ranked players such as Cheam June Wei (No. 67) and Soong Joo Ven (No. 68).

By Aidil’s own admission, his performances have not been good so far this year.

He lost in the early rounds of both the Polish Open and Orleans Masters.

“My performances have been quite bad this year until now. I did not expect my name to be in the list for the Asian Championships. I have never played in such a big individual tournament,” explained the 22-year-old.

But Aidil wants to make full use of the opportunity given to him.

“I will give my best. I need to be more confident on court and believe in myself. I don’t want to let such an opportunity slip by me,” vowed the youngster, who has a tough battle right from the start as he has to face Taiwan’s world No. 15 Wang Tzu-wei in the first round.

If he manages to overcome the Taiwanese, he could face India’s rising star and All-England finalist Lakshya Sen in the second round.

The other Malaysian men’s singles players in the fray are Lee Zii Jia, veteran Liew Daren and Ng Tze Yong.

National No. 1 Zii Jia opens his account against China’s Sun Feixiang.

Daren will take on Korea’s Heo Kwang-hee while Tze Yong will meet India’s K. Srikanth.

The four Malaysians are also the singles players chosen for a centralised training camp for the Thomas Cup along with Leong Jun Hao, Ong Ken Yon and Shaqeem Aiman Shahyar.

One of the players might be cut from the final list for the team meet from May 8-15 in Bangkok.

Aidil is keeping his fingers crossed that he will play a part in the Thomas Cup.

“I was in the team during the Thomas Cup in Aarhus, Denmark last year but I did not get to play. If I am chosen to play this time, I want to do well,” said the 22-year-old.

Aidil did play a part in the team that won the Asian Team Championships in February.

He saw action in the group games against Japan and Kazakhstan.

He will be looking to use the experience gained if he is called upon in this year’s Thomas Cup.