Americans’ silver show in world juniors a warning sign for Malaysian badminton

PETALING JAYA: United States have done better than Malaysia in the world junior championships

Yes, you heard that right as the nation known more for their American football, baseball and athletics stole the show at the home tournament when Francesca Corbett-Allison Lee went down fighting 21-12, 13-21, 15-21 to Japan’s Maya Tagauchi-Aya Tamaki in the girls’ doubles final in Spokane, Washington on Sunday.

The silver was United States’ first ever medal in the world junior meet.

None of the Malaysians reached the final but won three bronze medals through the mixed team, boys’ doubles (Bryan Goonting-Aaron Tai) and mixed doubles (Low Han Chen-Chong Jie Yu). It was better than their previous outing where they returned empty handed.

There were fears that the juniors will under-perform in the world juniors in the absence of Datuk Misbun Sidek who was asked to leave just two months before the world junior meet after his charges returned without any medals from the Asian junior meet.

But thanks to sparring session with the seniors, they managed to stand on the podium.

Still, Unites States’ silver-medal achievement is a sign that Malaysia have a lot of catching up do even at the junior level.

Countries who are not badminton powerhouses are already speeding ahead like a bullet train while a few nations like Thailand, India and Taiwan have eclipsed Malaysia to some extent.

And the usual suspects China, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan continue to make waves in the junior level.

China continued to show their prowess in the doubles by taking the boys’ and mixed doubles while Japan continue to maintain their grip in the girls’ doubles.

Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan created a ripple when he upstaged Hu Zhean of China 21-19, 19-21, 21-14 to become the first from his country to win the boys’ singles title since the tournament started 31 years ago.

For a country, who used to produce world junior champions in every edition, Malaysia need to strengthen the junior programme, especially after the departure of several key coaches, including the well-known Chinese coach Zhou Kejian.

Meanwhile, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) director of administration Michelle Chai said they would announce the replacement for Misbun in the junior squad soon.

“We will issue a press release in the next few days,” said Michelle.