Testing time on the courts
THE national shuttlers had their first taste of the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, the Olympic badminton venue, with an hourlong training session in Tokyo yesterday. The badminton competition starts on Saturday and ends on Aug 2.
BA of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann said: “Basically, the first day of training today (yesterday) was for the players to recover from travel fatigue. The players tested the courts, and for the main hall, they had a one-hour slot.The players really enjoyed themselves as they got a feel of the venue and also the atmosphere.”
The former World No 1 added that training will kick into full swing starting today.
“Everything is in order and going according to schedule. We are gearing up to go into full swing starting tomorrow (today)."
Due to Covid-19, players and officials have got to adhere to tight security measures and protocols.
Players have also taken to social media to show off their personalised training shuttlecocks, with their names and photographs printed on the cases.
This year, the Malaysian badminton challenge rest on the shoulders of eight shuttlers — Lee Zii Jia (men's singles), Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men's doubles), Soniia Cheah (women's singles), Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean (women's doubles) and Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles).
At the 2016 Rio edition, the national squad delivered three silver medals through former World No 1, Lee Chong Wei (men’s singles), Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (men's doubles) and Peng Soon-Liu Ying.
Except for Peng Soon-Liu Ying, the other shuttlers competing this year are all Olympic firsttimers.