Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s independent shuttlers were excited to earn a chance representing Malaysia in the upcoming Thomas Cup finals that will be held in Aarhus, Denmark, from October 3 to October 11, 2020.
Following the announcement from president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Norza Zakaria, last Thursday that BAM might invite independent shuttlers to form a stronger Thomas Cup team, Malaysia’s World No. 67 men’s singles player Soong Joo Ven hoped that the selection process could be fair to all players.
Soong who left BAM earlier this year showed a lot of enthusiasm for wanting to play for the Malaysia Thomas Cup team.
“I believe that the Malaysian team has a good chance of achieving good results in the Thomas Cup finals this year. They should choose the best player based on the current world rankings. In a tournament like the Thomas Cup, we all have the same goal, which is to deliver the best result for Malaysia,” said Soong.
Malaysia’s current men’s singles World No. 41 Daren Liew also looking forward to being able to play for his country.
“In the past 2 years, I’ve been the second-best men’s singles in Malaysia,” said Liew.
“I even defeated some younger opponents and reached the semifinals of the Spanish Masters,” added Liew. Liew eventually lost to World No. 4 Viktor Axelsen 10-21, 19-21 in the final four.
However, to make the Malaysia Thomas Cup team, both Soong and Liew would need to compete against other players including World No. 74 Cheam June Wei, World No. 134 NG Tze Yong, World No. 140 Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin, World No. 157 Leong Jun Hao, and World No. 160 Lim Chong King.
