PETALING JAYA: National boys’ doubles pair Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing are set to spearhead Malaysia’s challenge at the upcoming World Junior Championships in China at the end of this month.
The mixed team event is scheduled to take place from Sept 30-Oct 5, while the individual competition will run from Oct 7-13 in Nanchang.
World junior top two Aaron and Khai Xing will lead the boys’ doubles category alongside Sarawak Malaysia Games (Sukma) champions Mohd Faiq Masawi-Lok Hong Quan and Tan Zhi Yang-Loh Zi Heng.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) selected Sng Wei Ming and Kong Zhou Swin to represent the boys’ singles category, together with Ayu Fu Sheng.
All the boys headed to China are 18 years old, except for Fu Sheng, Zhi Yang, and Zi Heng, who are 17.
The girls’ doubles department will also see Sukma gold medallists Dania Sofea Zaidi-Low Zi Yu lead the charge, joined by national Under-18 champions Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting, and Nuraqilah Maisarah Ramdan-Nicole Chau.
With girls’ singles shuttler Siti Zulaika Azmi not fully recovered from an achilles injury, 17-year-old Eng Ler Qi had been roped in to join Ong Xin Yee, a semi-finalist at the Malaysian International Junior Challenge and national Under-18 champion, alongside Oo Shan Zi and Lim Zhi Shin.
Dania Sofea will also be competing in the mixed doubles department with partner Datu Anif Datu Asrah while the other mixed doubles pairs are Zhi Yang-Nuraqilah, Zi Heng-Clarissa San and Wee Yee Tern-Nicole Tan.
BAM acting president and Junior Task Force chairman Datuk V. Subramaniam said the players selected to compete in China represented the best in their respective categories.
“The BAM Junior Task Force has closely monitored these players over the last few months, both in training and during competition,” he said.
“We discussed the selection in detail with the junior coaching team headed by Jeffer Rosobin and arrived at this final list to represent Malaysia.
“As in previous editions, the competition will be tough and highly competitive. We hope our players will rise to the occasion and perform at their best.”
At the previous edition in Spokane, Washington, the national team secured three bronze medals in the mixed team event, the boys’ doubles event through Aaron Tai-Bryan Goonting and the mixed doubles via Low Han Cheng- Chong Jie Yu.
