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Sports

Thursday October 15, 2009

Iskandar is best bet for semis berth

PETALING JAYA: Top Malaysian junior shuttler Iskandar Zulkarnain is the country’s best bet to reach the semi-finals in the World Junior Championships, which will be held in Alor Setar from Oct 23-Nov 1.

Coach Sun Cheng Hua said that Iskandar had yet to hit top form as seen in his performances in the recent Terengganu Open and Vietnam Open and the national schools (MSSM) champion would have to work on raising his game.

“I will sit down with the player and watch videos of his recent matches and study his weaknesses,” he said.

“In Terengganu and Vietnam, he lacked aggression but this can be rectified before we head to Alor Setar. He is still good enough for a semi-final berth. This is our target but I have confidence that he will be able to do better.”

In Kuala Terengganu, Iskandar was beaten by former national trainee Tan Chun Seang 21-15, 15-21, 17-21 in the second round.

Last week in Ho Chi Minh City, Iskandar was also a second-round casualty, losing 21-19, 9-21, 14-21 to compatriot Mohd Arif Abdul Latif.

The world junior championships get underway with the mixed team event from Oct 23-26 and the individual competitions will be held from Oct 28-Nov 1.

Besides Iskandar, the other Malaysian boys’ singles players for the World Juniors are Mohd Syawal Ismail, Zulfadli Zulkfili and Misbun Ramdan.

Malaysia are playing hosts to the championships for the second time after 1994.

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