Malaysia has yet to be equipped with a strong team to play for the Thomas Cup and could consider an early knock-out if they happen to make it pass the qualifying round in the Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC) in Hyderabad next month.
Regarding the issue, professional player Zulfadli Zulkiffli has urged the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to be wise and thorough in selecting the players for the Thomas Cup squad and claimed that BAM’s decision to hold a special session to select the players to be irrelevant.
“I supported Morten Frost’s (technical director) previous Thomas Cup squad selection system, where only the best players are prioritized, especially based on their performance in international championships and also according to the ranks. To me, that’s much fairer.” said Zulfadli as quoted from Utusan.
“I hope that BAM will be more open regarding the selection of players for the Thomas Cup because it has already been two times that I was excluded and disappointed.”
With Liew Daren officially leaving BAM, national top seed Lee Chong Wei requesting for an exclusion in the BATC and Chong Wei Feng reportedly not being on the list of players for BATC, the national squad would have to endure a tough time in the championship and may need to rely on hope to qualify for the Thomas Cup.
Zulfadli also remains optimistic in securing a handful of titles in the upcoming international championships in order to make it to the Rio Olympics.
The 22 year-old will be taking part in the Malaysia Masters this January 19 to 21, Syed Modi International Challenge in Lucknow, India after that and then spend his birthday next month in the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters in Bangkok.
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