PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles coach Hazwan Jamaluddin has backed his charges to deliver in the World Junior Championships individual event starting tomorrow in Guwahati, Assam, India.
After a disappointing outing in the Asian Junior Championships in Solo, Indonesia, in July and the injury to talented shuttler Dania Sofea Zaidi, Hazwan has reshuffled a few of the pairs under him.
Hazwan hopes his charges will rise to the occasion this time and justify the faith shown in them.
“We have four mixed doubles pairs in the world juniors and we hope all can play well this time,” said Hazwan.
Dania’s partner Datu Anif Isaac has been paired with Low Zi Yu while Tan Zhiyang, who combined with Nicole Chau in the Asian Juniors, will partner Nicole Tan.
Mohd Shazmir Irfan will play with Teh Si Yan after failing to impress with Nur Aina Maisarah in Solo.
National Under-18 champions Loh Ziheng-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan, though, will continue to play together after retaining Hazwan’s faith.
In the Asian Junior meet, the duo missed out on a medal after going down in the quarter-finals along with Anif-Dania.
“After trying Anif with a few partners, we felt Zi Yu was the best choice to play with him. She is steadier and her shots are consistently high quality.
“As for Zhiyang-Nicole, they did well to win the Malaysian International Challenge in Ipoh in August. We hope they can continue their strong form.”
In the mixed team event which ended yesterday, Malaysia finished fifth after beating Taiwan 2-1 in the playoff for fifth place.
Earlier, the team missed out on a medal after going down 0-2 to China in the last eight.
Although, disappointed to not get a medal, Anif is still happy with the team’s response after the loss to China and has vowed to go all out in the individual event.
“We easily won our group. Unfortunately, we had to play the mighty China in the quarter-finals,” said Anif.
“I saw everyone gave their everything. After losing to China, I’m happy that we responded well and came fifth
“I want to enjoy my game and not put undue pressure on myself.”
Meanwhile, China went on to claim the title after beating defending champions Indonesia 2-0.
RESULT
Final
China bt Indonesia 2-0
First tie: Cao Zihan-Chen Fan Shutian bt Riska Anggraini-Rinjani Nastine 9-8; Chen Junting-Zihan bt Ikhsan Pramudya-Rinjani Nastine 18-15; Liu Siya bt Thalita Wiryawan 27-20; Liu Yangming bt Mohd Zaki Ubaidillah 36-27; Junting-Liu Junrong bt Raihan Pramono-Alexius Subagio 45-30.
Second tie: Zihan-Fan Shutian lost to Riska-Rinjani 5-9; Junting-Zihan bt Ikhsan-Rinjani 18-14; Siya bt Thalita 27-23; Yangming bt Zaki 36-32; Junting-Junrong bt Mohd Rizki Mubarrok-Raihan 45-44.
