SHAH ALAM: The Malaysian women's team have one clear target at the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC): to finish ahead of Thailand in Group Y.
Malaysia's No. 2 women's singles player, K. Letshanaa, is confident that she and her teammates will comfortably see off the United Arab Emirates in the opening group tie on Wednesday.
However, 21-year-old Letshanaa, who will be making her BATC debut, is wary of Thailand, who will start as favourites ahead of the final group tie on Thursday.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage before a fresh draw is conducted for the last eight.
Group winners have a slight advantage as they will be seeded and avoid facing each other in the quarter-finals.
"We should be able to get the job done in our opening group match against UAE. We will use this match to get used to the court conditions," said Letshanaa.
"We will go all out against Thailand. The goal for the women's team is to do our very best.
"We are confident about facing Thailand. If we beat them, it will be a huge boost ahead of the quarter-finals," added Letshanaa.
The Selangor-born, who has played in other team events such as the Uber Cup and Sudirman Cup, urged her younger teammates not to think too much about ranking when up against experienced opponents.
"Focusing too much on ranking will only add stress and pressure. It's best not to think about it.
"Instead, think about how we can improve our overall ranking if we can go far in this tournament," said world No 56 Letshanaa.
At the previous BATC two years ago, also in Selangor, the Malaysian women's team reached the semi-finals and qualified on merit for the Uber Cup Finals.
The team comprise world No. 31 Jin Wei, Letshanaa, Wong Ling Ching, Siti Nurshuhaini Azman, Pearly Tan, M. Thinaah, Go Pei Kee, Low Yeen Yuan, Teoh Mei Xing and Tan Zhing Yi.