Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s World No. 74 men’s singles player Cheam June Wei has made it clear that he won’t rule out his chances of playing in the 2020 Thomas Cup that will be held in Aarhus, Denmark, from October 3 to October 11.
After winning two matches on Wednesday, Cheam continued his brilliant performance at the BAM Invitational Championships to beat Daren Liew 21-18, 21-11 Thursday morning.
“I am happy with my performance so far because I have won three matches all in straight games. I am not here to have fun but with a mission to win a spot in the Thomas Cup squad,” said Cheam.
“Playing against Daren was not easy, the first game was very close. I think he was a little tired, and I took advantage of that to win the match,” added Cheam.
Cheam exhibited consistent form to outlast Leong Jun Hao 21-18, 15-21, 21-14 Thursday afternoon.
For the record, Cheam clinched the only win for Malaysia in the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships final early this year as he rose to the occasion to beat World No. 7, Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the meeting between World No. 10 Lee Zii Jia and World No. 67 Soong Joo Ven has brought everyone to their feet with a stunning all-court battle that went to the wire with Soong defeated Lee 21-19, 11-21, 29-27.
After the match, Lee claimed he was injured and had to withdraw from the tournament.
BAM’s coaching director also confirmed that Lee pulled his lower back muscle, and will not be playing for the remaining matches.
Soong also retired from the match Thursday night against Lim Chong King with a score of 21-16, 16-21, 0-3. He then withdrew from the tournament after Thursday night’s match.
