MALAYSIANS, as expected, were given top billing in the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles but national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky is still cautious about the gold prospects.
Rexy said he would want to concentrate on the mixed team event that started yesterday before even thinking about the individual competitions which will begin on Wednesday.
In men’s doubles, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are the top seeds while their main rivals Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India are seeded second. Barring any upsets, it should set up a thrilling final between the two pairs.
Aaron-Wooi Yik seem to have an easy path to the final and will have to beat either third seeds Ben Lane-Sean Vendy of England or Terry Hee-Loh Kean Hean of Singapore in the last four.
Second pair Chan Peng Soon-Tan Kian Meng are likely to meet Satwiksairaj-Chirag in the last four.
Women’s doubles top seeds Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have a tricky semi-final showdown against Treesa Joly-Gayathri Gopichand of India and are likely to play England’s second seeds Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith for the title.
Should Lai Pei Jing-Cheah Yee See upstage the English pair in the last eight, it may even be an all-Malaysian showdown.
Mixed doubles top seeds Tan Kian Meng-Pei Jing will be wary of Singapore’s Terry and Jessica Tan in a possible semi-final clash.
Fifth-seeded Malaysian pair Peng Soon-Yee See are expected to tussle with second seeds and silver medallists at the 2018 Gold Coast Games, Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith of England, in the last four.
“We want to concentrate on the mixed team event first. It is a tough competition as there are strong oppositions like (defending champions) India, Singapore and England,” said Rexy.
“We want to give our best for team event first and get a good result.
“It is still too early to comment on the individual events. The team event will give us an clear indication of our players’ form. We can also gauge our potential rivals for the individual events in the next few days.”
Rexy’s cautious approach is understandable as the national shuttlers did not do well at the recent Malaysian Open and Masters tournaments several weeks ago as none of the pairs reached the finals.
Aaron and independent player Pei Jing recently recovered from Covid-19 and that is why Malaysia are taking a conservative approach.
However, the draw has presented a good chance for Malaysian pairs to make a strong impact and they could end up bettering the one-gold target set for badminton.
