After a display of splendor in the Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC) and an overall improvement this year, national shuttler Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin is confident that he still has a shot for a slot in the Rio Olympics, even though the chances are slim.
Iskandar certainly has shown an amazing set of skills this year. The 24 year-old, whom captained the men’s squad to the quarter finals of the championship, stated that he has until April to gun down a Rio berth.
“The chances to qualify for the Olympics is tough because I need to win at least two to three more international championships. But for now, I don’t really have high hopes. I’ll just do my best,” said the Malaysian Masters runner-up as quoted from Berita Harian.
“Hope is still there but chances are slim due to the time constraint. I don’t even know what championship am I going to play next.”
The 2015 National GP champion has received praises from Technical Director of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Morten Frost as he believes that Iskandar has a bright chance of representing the contingent for the Thomas Cup in May.
“Of course, everyone wants to see me win so I was quite pressured in India. I’m grateful that I got to let go of the stress and I hope I will continue to stay calm to face the stress and upcoming challenges.”
My goal is that if we make it to the finals of the Thomas Cup later on, I would want to still be in a team. I’ve gained a lot of experience in the BATC.”
Iskandar won all four of the matches he played, including downing top guns Takuma Ueda of Japan and India’s Ajay Jayaram. The young talent certainly has a lot more to show.
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