Axiata Cup draw puts Malaysians in a tough trial – Badminton news
The Malaysian shuttlers have been subjected into a tough trial as the draw put them against strong contenders in Axiata Cup, set to be staged from March 23 to April 15.
The lucrative Axiata Cup will pit six countries against each other, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam will be contesting in the richest badminton team event of the world which is offering one million US dollars prize money.
Malaysia and Indonesia have decided to pocket the full benefits of hosting Axiata Cup and both countries are going to participate with two teams in the event, which have a play format of two singles and one doubles tie.
Malaysia A, playing with the name of Malaysian Tigers, comprise the skipper World Number one Lee Chong Wei, the World Number 32 Hafiz Hashim, World Number 43 Daren Liew and Arif Abdul Latif in singles event while doubles pair will see Malaysian pairs Koo
Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah in action.
Despite of having Chong Wei in the squad, Malaysia is in tight situation as its remaining shuttlers are not in top form and they will really need to sweat hard if they want to surpass incredibly tough contenders Tommy Sugiarto and Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka
of Indonesian Rajawali side.
The Indonesian doubles experts Alvent Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan and young pair Angga Pratama-Ryan Agung Saputra are also suppose to show a great resilience.
Thailand and the other challenger Philippines, who have raised their chances after fielding the Danish shuttler Mathias Boe and top German player Marc Zwiebler for singles, also will not allow the Malaysia’s A team to seal the glory easily.
The Malaysian B team, named Malaysian Leopards includes World and Asian junior champion Zulfadli Zulkifli, Misbun Ramdan Misbun, Loh Wei Sheng and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin while the couples Nelson Heg-Teo Ee Yi and Ow Yao Han-Chooi Kah Ming will represent
the country in doubles event.
The young but inexperienced Malaysian side is scheduled to face the Indonesian A team which have Simon Santoso and Taufik Hidayat, who are placed at 11th and 12th spot respectively in singles world rankings, and the World Number seven
duo Mohammad Ahsan-Bona Septano.
They also need to stamp the other two contenders, Singapore and Vietnam in Group J matches to seal the crown in Axiata Cup which is offering US$ 400,000 to the winner and US$200,000 for runners-up.
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