Badminton

Target: 2024 Paris Games

The BA of Malaysia (BAM) are determined to end the nation's Olympic gold medal wait at the 2024 Paris Games.

And to achieve that, they will use the Thomas Cup in October as one of the platforms to prepare their young shuttlers for a full assault in Paris.

The national body will also expose their up-and-coming players in the Uber Cup.

With the decision, there will be no place for independent players to represent the country in both tournaments, scheduled in Aarhus, Denmark on Oct 9-17.

At the draw ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Malaysia were pooled in Group D with 2014 champions Japan, Canada and England for the Thomas Cup.

In the Uber Cup, Malaysia are in Group D with 15-time champions China, Denmark and Canada.

"We have to look at the perspective of a new Olympic cycle. We have to groom our young players," said BA of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann yesterday.

"We have to be realistic. What are our chances of winning the title? Let's not talk about hope here.

"We need to push our young players to the front line so that they can take the headwind. That's the only way to build responsibility."

According to the former world No 1, it is also difficult to consider independent players for both events as they have not been training for the last few months due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) in the country.

Only shuttlers who competed at the recent Tokyo Olympics were allowed to train inside a safety bubble.

"There are so many professional players, but we cannot just bring them in as they have not been training for the past few months.

"As I had mentioned earlier, it's about perspective.

"There are two ways to build leaders.

"Some of them are born with these qualities. They are your rare ones.

"For the rest, you need to throw them into the sea and get them to swim," added Choong Hann, who admitted that Malaysia are a little vulnerable in the men's singles department.

The BAM have until the middle of next month to finalise their squads.

Barring any upsets in Denmark, the men's team should be able to clear their group and qualify for the quarter-finals.

Malaysia last won the Thomas Cup in 1992 and came close in 2014 when they reached the final in New Delhi.

At the 2018 edition in Bangkok, Malaysia crashed out in the quarter-finals after losing 3-1 to Indonesia.

The delayed Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, originally scheduled last year, had to be postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

THOMAS CUP:

Group A - Indonesia, Taiwan, Algeria, Thailand;

Group B - Denmark, South Korea, France, Germany;

Group C - China, India, Netherlands, Tahiti;

Group D - Japan, Malaysia, Canada, England.


UBER CUP:

Group A - Japan, Indonesia, Germany, France;

Group B - Thailand, India, Spain, Scotland;

Group C - South Korea, Taiwan, Tahiti, Egypt;

Group D - China, Denmark, Malaysia, Canada.

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