PETALING JAYA: With Malaysia not expected to be among the medal contenders in the men’s singles at the Asian Games, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) could consider sending younger players from the back-up squad to gain valuable experience.
National No. 1 Leong Jun Hao and Justin Hoh looked far from convincing after their disappointing performances in the Thomas Cup in Horsens recently.
Jun Hao in particular continued to struggle after suffering defeats to lower-ranked opponents or players he had beaten previously, such as Joakim Oldorff and Kodai Naraoka.
However, BAM secretary Datuk Kenny Goh still considers the Asian Games, an important assignment for Malaysia, with player selection set to be discussed in detail by the performance committee led by Lee Chong Wei together with the coaching team.
“I think it will be discussed later because the Asian Games is still about four months away. But the Asian Games is one of the milestones I mentioned, so I believe the performance committee and coaching team will discuss and make a decision,” said Kenny.
The Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya will begin from Sept 19-Oct 4.
At the 2022 edition in Hangzhou, Malaysia fielded Lee Zii Jia and Ng Tze Yong in the men’s singles event, with both falling in the quarter-finals.
At the same time, Kenny denied claims that Malaysia are short of quality men’s singles players following the team’s disappointing campaign in the Thomas Cup.
Malaysia’s wait to end their 34-year title drought continued after they went down 3-0 to China in the quarter-finals.
According to Kenny, the men’s singles department have been unfortunate due to injuries and players still undergoing recovery.
“I don’t agree when people say we (BAM) lack talent. I think we have the talent, but we have just been unfortunate in the singles department because some players got injured.
“You all know how many players are injured, some are still in the recovery process and some have only just returned. So I don’t think we are lacking talent, we have just been unlucky in that aspect,” said Kenny.
Although he did not name any players, Malaysia have clearly felt the absence of Tze Yong, who is still recovering from the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury he suffered last year.
