More Malaysian participation needed
AS the Olympic qualifiers get underway with the New Zealand Open this week, Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong would like to see more Malaysian pairs playing in as many tournaments as possible.
The 2016 Rio Olympic Games silver medallists believe Malaysia should be following in the footsteps of powerhouses like Japan and China, who consistently register more than just a couple of pairs.
According to the World No 14, having more pairs in tournaments would increase the chances of having more than just one pair qualify for the Tokyo Games next year.
“We must learn from countries like Japan and China. In every tournament, they have more than just two pairs, at least three or four.
“The men’s doubles department is very competitive these days and we need to have more Malaysians playing to shake up the dominance of these powerhouses,” said V Shem.
At the New Zealand Open in Auckland, the BA of Malaysia (BAM) will be represented by World No 15 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (No 24) and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (No 32), with V Shem-Wee Kiong also in the fray.
On how it feels to finally get the Olympic qualifying campaign started, V Shem, added: “It’s going to be exciting and very competitive.
“Just look at the draw and you can already see several top pairs competing just to get their points up.
“Wee Kiong and I have not had the best of outings in the past few tournaments, but we are ready for this one-year Olympic qualifying period.
“It’s also nice to be playing alongside several other Malaysian pairs. I hope we will have a few pairs in the top eight bracket at the end of the qualifying period.”
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) will only consider the top 10 BWF World Tour results at the end of the qualifying period, with a country only allowed the maximum representation (two pairs) if they have two pairs in the top eight bracket.
Seventh seeds V Shem-Wee Kiong will open their campaign tomorrow against Germany’s Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel.