KUALA LUMPUR: Despite Malaysia's poor showing at this year's World Junior badminton championships in Spain, there is still hope for the coming editions.
Yesterday, 17-year-old Faiq Haziq settled for second place in the Asia Under-17 Junior Championships in Thailand after succumbing 21-17, 21-19 to Taiwan's Wei Cheng Su in the boys' singles final.
Academy Badminton Malaysia development director Misbun Sidek told Timesport that Faiq and a few other junior shuttlers have shown progress and are looking good for upcoming international junior championships.
"Players like Faiq are the future and we have been grooming these players.
"Unlike the earlier batch, who barely got to go out to play because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Faiq and a few others are having much better luck.
"In fact, we are focusing on improving these players' fitness and endurance. One reason why Faiq lost (in the final) is because he played in two events," said Misbun, who came under scrutiny after Malaysia failed to have a single representative in the quarter-finals of the world junior meet this year in Santander.
Apart from Faiq who went on to reach the final, two other Malaysians, Sng Wei Ming and Aaron Tai, did well to reach the semi-finals in Nonthaburi on Saturday.
Misbun added that the junior shuttlers will remain in Thailand for the Pathumthani Junior International Series which starts tomorrow before returning to Kuala Lumpur.
"The coming year looks promising with these players. We are focused on several key areas, and are working towards improving them," he said.