Puchong United BC vie for Purple League badminton title

PETALING JAYA: Puchong United Badminton Club ( PUBC) wants to emerge champion at this season’s Purple League Badminton Tournament which began last Monday, at Gem in Mall in Cyberjaya.

It s team manager, I rina Inozemtseva is confident the target is achievable as the team f inished runner- up in Malaysia’s first professional badminton league over the past two seasons.

She pointed out t hat t he presence of notable players such as the 2016 Rio Olympic silver medallist Goh Liu Ying, who would team up with one half of former world number one men’s doubles pair Yoo Yeon Seong of South Korea, would certainly boost their chance to vie for glory.

“We also roped in former national players such as Chong Wei Feng and also Thailand’s r i sing player, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk. I’m confident with the strongest line-up that we have, we will achieve the target,” she told reporters after the launch of BEKO-PUBC Foundation here yesterday.

In a related development , Irina said the 30-minute format introduced by tournament organiser Purple League Sdn Bhd, beginning this season, seemed more challenging to the competing teams.

She said the club’s players were still struggling to adapt with the 30-minute format introduced by the organiser.

Under the new format, each team must complete the match in four categories men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and mixed doubles - within 30 minutes.

“The format is abitconfusingand some of our players complained as they did not know how to adapt with the format during the match. However, with an ongoing discussion with the coaches, I’m quite confident the players will be familiar with the format,” noted Irina. — Bernama