Tough draw for Malaysian shuttlers in BWF World Tour Finals

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shuttlers have been handed a tricky draw for the 2020 HSBC Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals Tournament, slated to be held for five days starting today at Impact Arena in Bangkok.

The 2021 Toyota Thailand Open runners-up, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik have been drawn in Group B alongside lanky pair, Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov of Russia, former world champions, Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia), besides world number eighth Choi Solgyu and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea in today’s draw which was broadcast live via BWF Youtube channel.

National top men’s singles shuttler, Lee Zia Jia is also set to face a mammoth task as he will be up against the three top players in Group A - world number two Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan, world number sixth Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia) and former world champion, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark who recently secured back-to-back the Yonex Thailand Open and Toyota Thailand Open titles.

The top eight shuttlers in their respective categories in the HSBC BWF Road to Bangkok Rankings are qualify to play in the US$1.5 million (RM6.065 million) championships.

Based on the tournament format, the top two shuttlers in both groups of each categories will qualify for the semi-finals.

Malaysia did not have any representatives in the women’s singles category for the seasonending tournament after failing to occupy the top eight finish in rankings.