The draw for the Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC) has been revealed and Malaysia may just be able to advance to the quarter finals easily but face a tough challenge to make it to the finals of the championship.
The championship will be a platform for teams to qualify for the Thomas Cup and Uber in Kunshan, China this May.
Team Malaysia, currently ranked fifth in the world, is placed in Group B alongside defending champions Japan, Sri Lanka and Nepal for the men’s section whereas the women will be taking on China and Hong Kong in Group A.
Technical director of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Morten Frost Hansen stated that he is delighted with the draw and claimed that the national squad faces no problem in taking it as far as the quarter finals.
“The draw is indeed very good and what’s amazing is that we can definitely see ourselves in the quarter finals,” he said as quoted from Utusan.
The men’s squad will be captained by Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin whereas the women’s will be under the lead of Tee Jing Yi.
The BATC will be held in Hyderabad, India this February 15 to 21.
The following is the draw for the overall championship:
MEN’S SECTION
Group A:
China, India, Singapore
Group B:
Japan, MALAYSIA, Sri Lanka, Nepal
Group C:
Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Maldives
Group D:
South Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines
WOMEN’S SECTION
Group A:
China, MALAYSIA, Hong Kong
Group B:
Thailand, Taiwan, Sri Lanka
Group C:
South Korea, Indonesia, Maldives
Group D:
Japan, India, Singapore
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