Best of the lot: Aaron Chia (right) and Soh Wooi Yik were the only Malaysians who did well in three tournaments when they reached the Indian Open semi-finals.
PETALING JAYA: The year has not started well for the national badminton players but Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria still believes the best is yet to come.
Three tournaments have concluded so far this month but no local players made it past the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open or the Indonesian Masters. Only men’s doubles duo Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik entered the semi-finals of the Indian Open.
Despite the poor outings, Norza stands firm that the players are still on track to achieve their peak performance at the Paris Olympics from July 26-Aug 11.
“There is no point for us to pressure our players when it’s just the first few tournaments of the year.
“If they get injured, then we won’t see them perform at their best in Paris.
“So let’s give them some time, this is just the start of the year. The qualification process for the Olympics will go on until the end of April,” he said during the Malaysian Basketball Association (Maba) annual dinner on Saturday.
Norza added that the players are aware of what’s at stake in qualifying for the Olympics.
“Players aspiring to represent Malaysia in Paris are well aware of their responsibilities, they know the dream is to achieve success at the Olympics. It’s the pinnacle of sports achievement.”
“For administrators like us, we will continue to try our very best to give the players all the support they need to ensure our players are ready for Paris.
“We still have six months to prepare, and I believe we can make it in time. The players we have identified in the Road to Gold (RTG) programme are world class, so we need to give them the confidence that they have our support behind them.
“Not just giving support, but we want the public to be patient as well, I believe the results will come,” he said.
At the same time, Norza wished men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia a speedy recovery after the world No. 10 player suffered food poisoning, forcing him to retire in the quarter-finals against Canada’s Brian Yang.
“I hope whatever Zii Jia is going through isn’t that serious.
“We have prepared our team for the upcoming Asian Team Championships and Zii Jia is our first singles player, so I hope he is fit soon,” said Norza.
Zii Jia will be playing alongside world No. 15 Ng Tze Yong, Leong Jun Hao, and 18-year-old Eogene Ewe in the singles with Aaron-Wooi Yik, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and youngsters Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri lining up for the doubles.
