Vantaa: The pressure on the latest Malaysian squad to carry the nation’s hopes at the 2021 Sudirman Cup was high enough, where the players were showing great effort during their first daily training session in Vantaa, Finland on Thursday.
For some members of the Malaysian team, the Sudirman Cup would be the first tournament in their 3-month long badminton tour which featured various tournaments across several countries. Players such as Lee Zii Jia (men’s singles), Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles), and Pearly Tan/M Thinaah (women’s doubles) would not return to Malaysia until the end of the 2021 World Championships which will be held in Huelva, Spain in December.
After the Sudirman Cup, these players will be playing at the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Aarhus, Denmark from October 9 to October 17. Then, they will be staying in Denmark to compete at the Denmark Open from October 19 to October 24 before traveling to France to compete at the French Open, from October 26 to October 31.
Upon the completion of those four consecutive European tournaments, they will head to Bali, Indonesia for the Indonesian Masters (November 16 to 21), the Indonesian Open (November 23 to 28), and the BWF World Tour Final (December 1 to 5). They are going to wrap up their 2021 season by going to Huelva, Spain for the World Championships scheduled to be held from December 12 to December 19.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Coaching Director, Wong Choong Hann, said it would be a big challenge for these Malaysian players to maintain their best performance during these 3 months.
“It will be a very tiring schedule for our players, but this is a challenge for them. In order to qualify for the World Tour Finals, they would need to play in all the major tournaments,” said Wong.
“We have set up a good recovery program for the players for the period of staying abroad to ensure they remain at their best level of performance,” added Wong.
“They are going to have two to three weeks off between the tournaments but they will not return to Malaysia to avoid undergoing the mandatory fourteen-day self-quarantine,” continued Wong.
“Not all players will play in all tournaments, instead some will play at lower-level tournaments in Europe and some will return to Malaysia,” explained Wong.
