Badminton: James: Time to end title drought at home in absence of world’s top pairs

PETALING JAYA: Former great Datuk James Selvaraj has urged the national shuttlers to take full advantage of the absence of several top doubles pairs in the Malaysian Masters from May 21-26 in Bukit Jalil and end the title drought at home.

No homester has won the title in the tourney since mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing emerged champions in 2017.

This time, the likes of men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (women’s doubles) have golden opportunities to capture the title as most of the world’s top pairs are skipping the tournament to focus on their preparations for the Paris Olympics in July.

Denmark’s world No. 5 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup will be the only other top 10 pair in the men’s doubles besides world No. 4 Aaron-Wooi Yik.

In the women’s doubles, Japan’s world No. 12 Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi are the highest ranked pair in the tourney followed by world No. 14 Pearly-Thinaah.

James has called on the home players to go all out to win the title.

“When the top pairs are not playing, our players should use this opportunity to win to go all out to win the title,” said James.

“Playing at home is always an advantage because the support of the fans will be fantastic.

“At the same time, our players should not be overconfident or feel too much pressure to win.

“They still need to be very careful and have to use the right strategy in their matches to win,” added James.

In last year’s edition, Pearly-Thinaah and men’s doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun did come close to capturing the titles but had to settle for runners-up spots after losing narrowly to South Korea’s Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee and Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae respectively.

Meanwhile, world No. 9 mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei’s biggest competitors for the title will be Thailand’s 2021 world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai while Indonesian pairs Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas, Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emmanuelle and Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu could all pose a tricky challenge.

In the men’s singles, world No. 10 Lee Zii Jia is set to face a stern test as Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, world No. 4 Anders Antonsen, China’s Li Shifeng (No. 6) and Thailand’s reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn have all registered for the competition.

The draw for the tournament will be released today.