Yap Roy King and Wan Arif Wan Junaidi in action during the Malaysian Open. - IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The star
KUALA LUMPUR: Men’s doubles shuttlers Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi are determined to fight for of a spot in the Thomas Cup Finals from April 24-May 3 in Denmark.
The world No. 17 pair Roy King-Arif may get the nod if the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) decide to field all the national pairs.
Roy King-Arif are currently ranked fourth in the country behind world No. 2 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (No. 5) and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (No. 7).
With professionals Sze Fei-Izzuddin not being in the best form, Roy King-Arif could be considered to feature in their first Finals.
Roy King-Arif however, know that performing well in competitions will be crucial to convince their coaches that they are worthy of a spot.
"We have to prove ourselves in the first three tournaments (of the year) with good results," said Arif.
"We are not in the top three right now, so we have to show it with results. For a good result, maybe at least we need to upset one top pair."
Roy King-Arif went down 18-21, 11-21 to India’s world No. 3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in the Malaysian Open second round at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil on Thursday (Jan 8).
The duo will compete in the Indian Open starting on Tuesday (Jan 13) in New Delhi.
Roy King-Arif will play Japan’s Takumi Nomura-Yuichi Shimogami in the first round.
The pair will also have an opportunity to prove their capabilities when they compete in the Indonesian Masters from Jan 20-25 in Jakarta.
