SEPANG: Within the next two days, the BAM will have to make the right call on whether to include Aaron Chia, Soh Wooi Yik and Liew Daren for the Asian Games.
BAM president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria stressed today the importance of deliberating on several factors, including injuries before making a final decision.
World No 35 men's doubles Aaron-Wooi Yik impressed in their debut at last week’s World Championships in Nanjing, China, when they reached the quarter-finals.
Liew Daren, 31, defied the odds to win bronze, becoming only the third Malaysian men's singles to win a World Championships medal, after Wong Choong Hann and Lee Chong Wei.
Norza said: "I have discussed with Datuk Ng Chin Chai (BAM Coaching and Training committee chairman), and we have always placed importance on performance.
"Therefore, we believe that Aaron-Wooi Yik and Liew Daren should be considered for the Asian Games. However, there are matters that need to be looked into first.
"In Aaron-Wooi Yik's case, they have been registered to compete in the Vietnam Open (Aug 7-12). We are worried that it might affect their performance at the Asian Games, if we push them to play in back-to-back tournaments.
“They are still young and we don't want to overdo it with them. We have to be very careful in making the right decision.
"In Daren's case, Chin Chai will bring up the matter with Datuk Misbun Sidek (men's singles head coach) first.
“If Daren is to be included, he will likely replace Soong Joo Ven or Cheam June Wei. Now, we will need to discuss with Daren as well, because as we know, he picked up an injury at the World Championships.
"Give us a couple of days to come up with the right decision."
Norza added that BAM are also waiting for clearance from the National Sports Institute (NSI) in regard to the injury suffered by mixed doubles shuttler Goh Liu Ying.
“According to Liu Ying, it doesn't seem serious, but we are not willing to take any risk. We should be getting the medical report soon."
It is understood BAM still have time, until the team managers’ meeting on Aug 16 to make changes to the squad.
Norza expressed his satisfaction with the overall performance of the national shuttlers at the World Championships that ended on Sunday.
"First of all, I am very pleased with the performance of the players. I think this year, we did so much better than the previous edition in Glasgow.
"Our plan to field younger players in the Thomas and Uber Cup in May seemed to have come good. Take Goh Jin Wei (women's singles) for example. I think she has improved tremendously and showed great fighting spirit, despite losing in the third round to (Nozomi) Okuhara.
"Then we have our men's doubles Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were on fire. It was rather unfortunate for V Shem-Wee Kiong to crash out in the third round, or we would have secured a pair in the semi-finals.
"Our expectations were high on our mixed doubles to deliver, but they failed. Hopefully they will go back to the drawing board and see how they can find a solution to put
them on top of their game again."