Misbun, Zulfadli make cut for world junior meet
Posted by valsus on September 13, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: Young shuttlers Misbun Ramdan Misbun and Zulfadli Zulkifli received an early Hari Raya cheer after being given the green light to compete in the World Junior Championships for the first time.
Malaysia are hosting the annual event for the first time in Kedah from Oct 23-Nov 1.
The duo made the cut ahead of several Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) players following their unexpected good run in the Asian Junior Championships at Stadium Juara in Bukit Kiara in July.
The lanky youngsters – Ramdan of Nusa Mahsuri and Zulfadli of KLRC Rackets – reached the semi-finals of the Asian meet.
They will join the BAM’s top two juniors – Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Mohd Syawal Ismail – in both the team and individual events.
National junior chief coach Sun Chenhua said Ramdan and Zulfadli deserved to play as they had proven themselves.
“They did well to reach the semi-finals (of the Asian meet) and I decided to recommend them to be considered in the team. In fact, Ramdan has started training with us,” said Chenhua, who added that Iskandar and Syawal “are coming back from minor injuries”.
“Syawal was down with an ankle injury while Iskandar had a stiff back. But they are shaping up well now in training,” he said.
In the Asian junior meet, Iskandar lost to China’s Tian Houwei in the final while Syawal went down fighting in the semi-finals.
“All four – Iskandar, Syawal, Ramdan and Zulfadli – gained valuable experience in the Asian junior meet. I hope they have learnt from their mistakes and will give another rousing performance in the world junior meet,” said Chenhua.
“They were unable to handle the pressure when it mattered most. Hopefully, they will be more focused and not put undue pressure on themselves at the world junior meet.
“We have another one and half months to prepare for the tournament. I will be happy if we can make the semi-finals of the team event and one of the boys reach the singles final.”
Chenhua has also recommended four girls’ singles players – Tee Jing Yee, Sonia Cheah, Yang Li Lian and Florah Ng – for the world meet.
National doubles coach Yap Kim Hock is expected to name the boys’ and girls’ pairs for the world junior meet soon.
