Badminton Association of Malaysia summons Hafiz Hashim for Thomas Cup preparations
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has directed badminton ace Muhammad Hafiz Hashim to join the national squad immediately in the preparations for the Thomas Cup finals set to be held in China from May this year.
The World Number 32, singles player Hafiz Hashim started playing independently last year after getting sponsors but BAM summoned him for national squad of Thomas Cup preliminaries, held last week in Macau.
Despite of not being completely in shape the singles shuttler Hafiz, who also represents Kuala Lumpur Racket Club (KLRC), was very acrobatic in his decisive encounter against India where he ensured for Malaysia’s berth in the Thomas Cup Finals.
The chairman of BAM coaching and training committee Ng Chin Chai feels that he is still needed in the team and he looked contented while announcing his prime shuttler’s affirmative response to call.
He said, “We have spoken to him and he has agreed to report as soon as possible for training. We will finalise our best team later.”
All the top shuttlers, except World Number one Lee Chong Wei, are in tight contest of the selection for the Thomas Cup finals.
The two preferred singles players World Number 43 Daren Liew and the World Number 50 Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif have earned a great deal of admiration for their elevated performance in the event but their failure to win any match has put a big question mark
on their selection.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia is now also considering reserved and independent players for the squad to be victorious in the Thomas Cup finals. They are extremely careful in finalising plans and strategies.
Chin Chai said, “We haven’t gone into the details of the team’s preparations yet. For now, we are waiting for the report from the coaches and team managers before making any plans.”
Besides Hafiz, Arif and Daren Liew, the other promising shuttlers who are contesting to make their cut in the final squad are Wong Choong Hann, Chong Wei Feng, Misbun Ramdan Misbun and last but not the least junior world champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli.
The independent players include Choong Hann, Chun Seang, Yogendran Krishnan, Chong Chieh and Zulfadli along with Hafiz Hashim.
In BAM’s next meeting on Tuesday, the Thomas Cup Finals preparation is going to be the top agenda.
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