There have been major doubts on the ability and skills of the junior badminton players to bring the nation forward in the sport but Vice President of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Datuk Seri Mohammad Norza Zakaria has decided to put a stop to it and remains confident that Malaysia will be playing in the finals of the Thomas Cup in Kunshan, even though the juniors are playing in the Badminton Asia Team Championship, which is a qualifying stage for the Cup.
With high hopes of qualifying by skills and not merit, Norza claimed that shuttlers like Zulfadli Zulkiffli and National GP champion Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin are capable of bringing the nation to victory.
“Why are we still doubting the younger generation when other countries are putting forward their younger players such as Kento Momota (Japan) and Viktor Axelson (Denmark) to take on our very own Lee Chong Wei?” he told Utusan.
“Our challenges to secure a gold medal in the Olympics are not only Lin Dan and Chen Long (China) but we have to be weary of Momota and Axelson too as they are former youth champions.”
“We still have a chance of qualifying for the Thomas Cup by skills because based on Iskandar and Zulfadli’s ranks and ability, they are capable of bringing a challenge in the international tournaments.”
The junior players were selected to give them exposure and also to not wear out Chong Wei physically and mentally as the Malaysian number one will be preparing to play for the Olympics.
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