Kuala Lumpur: After being drawn together with Taiwan and Singapore in the Group C of 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships, Malaysia’s World No. 8 men’s doubles player Aaron Chia stated he was hopeful of putting up good show at the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships that will take place in Manila, from February 11 to February 16.
Chia acknowledged that the Malaysian team looked promising to top the group, however, he didn’t want to underestimate their opponents in the group.
“On paper, we have chance to overcome Singapore and Taiwan in the group stage. However, we also do not want to underestimate their capabilities,” said Chia.
The Malacca-born player also admitted that players from both countries have performed rather well in recent tournaments.
“This is a team event and everything will be different than the individual event,” added Chia.
“Our goal is to get to the quarterfinals. It would be better if we could emerge the champion of the group,” explained Chia.
If Malaysia could repeat their 2018 achievements by heading into the semi-finals of the tournament, Malaysia will qualify for the Thomas Cup competition on merits without having to rely on their world ranking.
In case Malaysia couldn’t make the quarterfinals, they could still qualify for the Thomas Cup based on the latest world team rankings.