Juniors need a booster shot

KUALA LUMPUR: The BA of Malaysia (BAM) have urged development director Misbun Sidek to double his efforts for the World Junior Championships in Santander, Spain next month.

It comes after no Malaysian shuttler managed to make any of the five finals at the Under-19 Malaysia Junior International Series in Putrajaya today.

Top singles shuttler Justin Hoh, a

for the world meet, was among the Malaysians who reached the semi-finals on Friday.

The 18-year-old, however, suffered from cramps and was forced to withdraw when trailing Japan's Yudai Okimoto 17-21, 21-16, 18-13, bringing his impressive 34-match unbeaten streak since May to an end.

The other Malaysian players who crashed out in the last four were boys' doubles Choi Jian Sheng-Lai Ting Cen and girls' doubles Chan Wen Tse-Siti Zulaikha Azmi.

BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said the tournament serves as an eye opener for the Malaysian squad, who for the past two years did not face tough competition from

playing nations due to Covid-19.

"It is an eye opener for us because all this while, we did not see the junior players from Japan, China, and South Korea.

"I believe we still have some time before the world juniors, so Misbun and his team need to step up and do something different to help their charges ahead of the world meet.

"Misbun and his coaches must conduct a post-mortem on the performances of the players and come up with something drastic ahead of the World Junior Championships," said Kenny yesterday.

Kenny also confirmed that the national body will hold a

next week for the world junior meet.

Malaysia, who have a long-standing history of producing top junior shuttlers, last won gold at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Markham, Canada, through Goh Jin Wei (girls' singles)

The tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19.

RESULTS

(All finals)

Men's singles: Sora Ogaki (Jpn) bt Yudai Okimoto (Jpn) 21-17, 21-12;

Doubles: Koya Iwano-Shunya Ota (Jpn) bt Seiya Inoue-Haruki Kawabe (Jpn) 21-17, 15-21, 21-15;

Women's singles: Kokona Ishikawa (Jpn) bt Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) 21-17, 17-21, 24-22;

Doubles: Rui Kiyama-Kanano Muroya (Jpn) bt Maya Taguchi-Nao Yamakita (Jpn) 21-19, 21-17;

Mixed doubles: Tanakorn Meechai-Fungfa Korpthammakit (Tha) bt Shunya Ota-Kanano Muroya (Jpn) 14-21, 21-18, 21-12.