BAM PLAY HARD BALL
Underperforming shuttlers beware
THE BA of Malaysia (BAM) have sent a strong message to their underperforming shuttlers by withdrawing national mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai from the Korea Open, which started yesterday.
Having already missed the Asia Championships (April) and the Australian Open (June) this year due to Soon Huat’s hamstring injury, the latest withdrawal comes as a huge blow for the World No 11, who are fighting for an Olympic qualifying spot.
BAM, however, are in no mood to soften their stance.
“The decision to drop them is not something new. In fact, it was decided before they (Soon HuatShevon) played at the recent China Open.
“We want this to be a strong message to all under-performing shuttlers that BAM is serious,” said coaching and training (C&T) committee chairman Datuk Kenny Goh, who is also the secretary general.
Apart from Soon Huat-Shevon, the other Malaysian pairs battling for Olympic spots are Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.
Based on the current Race to Tokyo list, Peng Soon-Liu Ying are ranked third, followed by Kian Meng-Pei Jing (12th) and Soon Huat-Shevon (No 21st).
Each country can only have two representatives in the singles and doubles events at the Olympics provided both are in the topeight bracket at the end of the one-year qualification period, which ends in May.
According to Kenny, BAM’s decision to pull the plug on the 2018 Singapore Open champions came after their early round exits in three consecutive tournaments (Japan Open, Thailand Open and the World Championships in Basel, Switzerland).
With the recent setback, Soon Huat-Shevon are also set to lose their No 8 spot on the BWF World Tour Finals rankings.
The season-ending finale on Dec 11-15 in Guangzhou, China, which features the top-eight pairs after 25 tournaments, offers up to 12,000 world ranking points.
Undeterred, Soon Huat-Shevon have vowed to bounce back stronger in the remaining tournaments leading up to the World Tour Finals.
They will compete in the Denmark Open (Oct 15-20) and the French Open (Oct 22-27) next.