BUKIT JALIL: While this year’s Malaysian Open was smoothly and impressively organised, the lingering disappointment lay in the lack of local players making a deeper run on home soil.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul had hoped for several elite national players to reach the semi-finals at least, but those expectations were not met.
The men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik provided the lone bright spot for the national camp by reaching the final, ending an eight year wait since Malaysia last had a finalist at the Malaysian Open, a feat last achieved by Datuk Lee Chong Wei in 2018.
They however fell short in the final after losing 15-21, 21-12, 21-18 to world No. 1 and world champions Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea on Sunday (Jan 11).
However, Zafrul was not prepared to rush into judgement, choosing instead to wait for a full report from the performance committee, led by Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei, on how the team fared at the tournament.
"As I mentioned, it is still too early to make a full report on what happened. What I can conclude is that the tournament was well organised and ran smoothly without any issues.
"In terms of players performance, we would of course have liked to see more players progress to the latter stages such as the semi-finals and the final.
"However, we did have one representative through the men’s doubles.
"We are somewhat disappointed that some were unable to advance to the quarter- finals or semi-finals, but I will leave it to the performance director to speak on this matter," he said.
