Fired up by run to mixed team final
WORLD JUNIORS: Better results can be expected in individual events, says Yoke Meng
Defending champion
will be Malaysia’s best bet in the World Juniors in Bilbao, Spain. MUCH to the satisfaction of the BA of Malaysia (BAM), the performance graph of the national players is going upwards.
On Sunday, three Malaysian pairs came good at two tournaments. And BAM technical director Morten Frost is confident they will continue to get better.
At the Bitburger Open in Germany, men’s duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi won their maiden GP Gold title, their fourth in total this year after winning the Portuguese International, Romanian International and Vietnam International Challenge while teammates Chooi Kah quarter-finals.
“The players are confident and there is good support. I am confident that we will be able to do better this year,” said Yoke Meng.
Malaysia last won the mixed team event five years ago in Taiwan.
Last year, Goh Jin Wei made the country proud when she clinched the girls singles title after defeating teammate Lee Ying Ying in the in the final in Peru.
This year, expectations are also high on boys’ singles Lee Zii Jia and Leong Jun Hao to perform, especially after having training stints in India and France prior to the world meet in Bilbao, Spain.
Jin Wei and fellow girls’ singles M.Thinaah, have received first round byes, while Zii Jia and Jun Hao are also through to the next round with first round byes.
Players playing in the boys’ singles, girls’ singles and mixed doubles will have have to go through five rounds before the quarter-finals while the boys’ and girls’ doubles have got four rounds before the last eight stage.