KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 — Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky has not ruled out the possibility of fielding ‘scratch’ men’s pairs at the 2023 Badminton Asia Mixed Team Badminton Championship (BAMTC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) which opens tomorrow.
However, he said it is necessary to see the level of readiness and condition of the players first before making such a decision.
“At the moment I do not need say tactically what needs to be done because what is important is to prepare the players to face the challenge in Dubai,” Rexy said when met recently.
Malaysia are betting on defending world men’s doubles champion Aaron Chia – Soh Wooi Yik and the professional pair currently ranked eighth in the world, Ong Yew Sin – Teo Ee Yi.
Rexy previously had paired up Aaron-Ee Yi during the 2022 Thomas Cup in Bangkok.
The decision by the former Indonesian men’s doubles ace paid off when Aaron – Ee Yi contributed the winning point to beat Japan 3 – 2 by defeating Akira Koga – Yuta Watanabe, 22 – 20, 21 – 17.
They also beat Krishna Prasad Garaga – Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjalan 21 – 19, 21 – 17, when the national squad were eliminated by India 3 – 2 in the quarter-finals.
Malaysia, who are seeded fourth in Dubai, are drawn in Group B along with India, Kazakhstan and the hosts.
In the meantime, Rexy reminded the players not to think too much about the absence of one of India’s leading men’s doubles players, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who was dropped due to injury and replaced by Dhruv Kapila.
Instead, the 1996 Olympic Games men’s doubles champion wants his charges to focus on themselves first and prepare to take on the national challenge at this third edition of the BAMTC.
Malaysia has not won the tournament so far, having lost in the quarter-finals in the first edition in 2017 in Hanoi, Vietnam and again at the same stage in the 2019 edition in Hong Kong.
— Bernama
