Malaysia could potentially not have a representative in the main draw of the All England Championship after it was announced that none of the shuttler from the nation would be seeded for the competition.
Due to the fact that they are unseeded for the first time in 45 years, Malaysian shuttlers will have to go through the qualifying round to compete at the All-England Championship.
The three individuals who will be participating at the qualifiers would be Chong Wei Feng, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Zulfadli Zulkiffli.
Former national shuttler Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, who secured the 2003 All-England Championship, believes that it would be a massive disappointment for the Malaysian badminton squad if there are no qualified contenders in the first round of the All England Championship.
“It will be a massive blow for us to not have a representative in round one of the competition. I’ve had a look at the names that they would be going up against and there are some strong names in there,” Hafiz told Sinar Harian.
“I hope that there’s at least one national contender, it is vital.”
Hafiz went on to add that while he wishes to at least see a Malaysian shuttler in the main draw, he’s still hoping that one of them would actually be able to go all the way and clinch the title.
“Many people say we’ve not reached Chong Wei’s level. But we can’t wait that long. To me, if a player performs at the highest level and does his best, it’s not impossible to win the title.”
Photo credits: nambikei.com
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