No Roy King at KL Masters, back-up and juniors get chance to step up

PETALING JAYA: Talented doubles shuttler Yap Roy Ying will be the missing star from the KL Masters from Oct 31-Nov 5 at Stadium Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur.

The 22-year-old Roy King, who is known for his prowess in playing two events – the men’s doubles and mixed doubles – is still nursing an ankle injury.

He has been floored since losing in the first round of the mixed doubles with Valeree Siow at last month’s Hong Kong Open.

At the KL Masters, he will skip the mixed event with Valaree and also doubles with Wan Arif Wan Junaidi.

In his absence, several back-up and junior shuttlers will be out to strut their stuff.

Stars in the making, Fazriq Razif-Wong Vin Sean, who captured their maiden senior title together at the Malaysian International Series recently, will see action.

They will be joined by world junior championships bronze medallists Bryan Goonting and Aaron Tai, who will be reunited with Choi Jian Sheng and Kang Khai Xing respectively.

Fazriq-Vin Sean and Bryan-Jian Sheng will start from the main draw while Aaron-Khai Xing will have to go through the qualifying rounds first. Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian will also be in the fray.

In the men’s singles, Leong Jun Hao, who is seeded second in the tournament, is Malaysia’s best hope of winning the title.

World No. 38 Jun Hao’s main challengers are likely to be South Korea’s world No. 47 Jeon Hyeok-jin and Taiwan’s world No. 35 Lee Chia-hao.

In the women’s singles, K. Letshanaa and Wong Ling Ching will be looking to make an impression.

Independent pair and top seeds Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See will be out to capture their first title together after struggling in higher-tier World Tour competitions so far this year in the mixed doubles while world junior meet bronze medallists Low Han Chen-Chong Jie Yu will also be out to make their presence felt.

The KL Masters, which is a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 100 event, is organised for the first time this year.