PETALING JAYA: The national junior squad must use the upcoming World Junior Championships in Guwahati, India, in October as a platform to restore their dented reputation.
Former world No. 1 Roslin Hashim believes it is crucial for the national junior squad to return with at least a bronze medal from the tournament to prevent the team’s reputation from suffering further damage.
Based on the mixed team event draw held on Friday, Malaysia, seeded third or fourth, were placed in Group F alongside Australia, Sri Lanka, Slovakia, and Vietnam.
On paper, Malaysia should have no trouble advancing past the group stage, as only the top team from each group will move on to the quarter-finals.
The real test begins at this stage, where Malaysia are likely to face tough opponents such as defending champions China, Indonesia, Thailand, India, and South Korea in the knockout rounds.
As for the individual events, the draws for all categories will only be revealed after the mixed team event, which is scheduled to take place from Oct 6-11.
“I feel the national junior squad had around two months to prepare so that they could achieve a better result at last month’s Asian Junior Championships,” said Roslin when contacted.
“We are considered one of the powerhouses, but if our juniors fail to win any medal in this edition, it would have serious implications as at this level we can already see which players have the potential to conquer the world in the future.”
Any poor results recorded in Indonesia previously must be taken seriously, with all post-mortems conducted given due attention and followed by improvements, as it is crucial for the national junior squad to produce encouraging results in India.
Roslin’s concerns come in the wake of the national junior squad’s disappointing campaign at the Asian Junior Championships in Surakarta last month.
Malaysia returned empty-handed after the mixed team fell in the quarter-finals, while the individual events ended in greater disappointment with no representatives reaching the semi-finals.
The country’s best hopes, last year’s World Junior Championships runners-up Dania Sofea Zaidi-Low Zi Yu, also fell short when their campaign ended in the quarter-finals.
Last year’s World Junior Championships in Nanchang saw Malaysia celebrating more than just the silver medal won by Dania-Zi Yu. The mixed team secured a bronze while the boys’ doubles pair of Aaron Tai-Khang Khai Xing struck gold.
