Zulfadli Zulkiffli is ready to mortify selectors in Selangor Open
The World Junior Champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli is set to excel in the Selangor Open to convince the selectors not to overlook him in future events as they did in the Thomas Cup preliminaries.
The 19-year-old Malaysian shuttler was dropped from the Thomas Cup qualifiers as Daren Liew and Muhammad Arif Abdul Latif were the preferred singles players chose by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
But the young and vibrant Zulfadli is not looking back into the past and he wants to register his mark in the Selangor Open which is starting today.
He said, “The BAM have their own selection criteria and I don’t want to dwell on it too much. However, the Selangor Open, which is my first tournament of the year, will be the perfect stage for me to prove myself.”
Zulfadli just has been awarded the Malaysia “Best Young Athlete” for 2011 for his par excellent performance in last year. He became the Asian junior champion and first Malaysian to seize the crown of World junior champion later in the year.
The current World Number 126 in Men’s Singles category, the Malaysia’s young gun is striving for his place in the international badminton arena. He is sweating hard under the supervision of his father Zulkiffli Sidek to make his cut into top badminton players.
Zulfadli said, “The year has started a little slow because I’ve been training a lot harder now but it is now my chance to step from the junior to senior level.”
But his immediate target is to exhibit his prime skills in the Slengor Open to register his mark against his senior competitors.
He said, “I’m not thinking too far ahead because I’ll probably face Daren in the quarter-finals but I just want give my best for all to see.”
Malaysia’s top shuttler World Number one Lee Chong Wei will only participate in mixed doubles category and his absence from the singles event means a great chance for the talented Zulfadli to prove his worth.
He will lock horns with Kedah’s Ng Sun Ly first and if he wins the next encounter will be with Lim Fang Yang. By clearing this hurdle he will meet top seed Daren Liew in the quarter-final.
Tags: