Yoke Meng cuts a forlorn figure despite easy draw

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia have been given an easy preliminary round draw for the Asian Junior Badminton Mixed Team Championships in Jakarta from July 22-30.

But Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) head coach Kwan Yoke Meng isn’t jumping for joy.

In the draw released yesterday, fourth seeds Malaysia have avoided the top guns like South Korea, Indonesia and seven-time winners China in the early stages.

Malaysia, winners in 2007 and 2009, are in Group B with Singapore, Vietnam, Macau and Myanmar.

Top seeds South Korea are in Group A with India, China and Uzbekistan while second seeds Indonesia are in Group D with Taiwan, Hong Kong and Nepal.

Group C comprises third seeds Thailand, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the Philippines.

Yoke Meng feels that the draw could thwart Malaysia’s chances of getting past the quarter-finals.

“It’s not a good draw. It should be easy for us to the reach the quarter-finals as group winners, but that’s when it really gets tough,” said Yoke Meng.

“As group winners, we’ll definitely face one of the runners-up from the other groups.

“Since teams from the same group cannot face each other in the quarter-finals, there’s a very high possibility that we may meet a strong team like China.

“Our target is to reach the semi-finals but, with this draw, we’ll have to depend on how the other teams fare in the group stages.”

Malaysia have not reached the semi-finals of the mixed team event since 2012, having been beaten 3-0 in the quarter-finals by China in the last two years.

Yoke Meng, however, is happy with the inclusion of 2015 world junior champion Goh Jin Wei (girls’ singles).

“Jin Wei and the two boys’ singles shuttlers – Leong Jun Hao and Sim Fong Hau – are our strongest members,” said Yoke Meng.

The team will leave for Jakarta on July 20.