Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia was drawn in Group D with Japan, Canada, and England in the 2020 Thomas Cup Finals scheduled to take place in Aarhus, Denmark from October 9 to 17.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching Director, Wong Choong Hann was optimistic that the Malaysian men’s team could advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup Finals.
“Our players need to be vigilant with the threat of England which can deny Malaysia the opportunity to finish the group stage competition as the top two teams,” said Wong.
“Right now our target is to finish the group stage in the top two spots so that we could advance to the quarter-finals,” added Wong.
“England has two fairly balanced men’s doubles and we have to be careful. We will be sending young players to the competition. I’m worried the young players couldn’t handle the pressure. It’s something we need to work on,” explained Wong.
“We have yet to decide if we will include professional players into our team. I will discuss with the other coaches first,” added Wong.
“We may hold an internal competition to determine the rankings of our players,” said Wong.
The Thomas Cup defending champions China were drawn into Group C along with India, the Netherlands, and Tahiti while Indonesia, Taiwan, Algeria, and Thailand were selected into Group A. The action for Group B will see competition between Denmark, South Korea, France, and Germany.
The champions and runners-up of each group would qualify for the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, in the Uber Cup draw, the Malaysian women’s team was drawn in Group D alongside China, Denmark, and Canada.
“We have to do our best to try to overcome Denmark and Canada to advance to the quarter-finals. I hope there will be surprises from our players,” said Wong.
The Uber Cup defending champions, Japan, were drawn in Group A with Indonesia, Germany, and France.
The following are the complete draw results for the 2020 Thomas Cup and Uber Cup finals.
Thomas Cup draw:
Group A – Indonesia, Taiwan, Algeria, Thailand
Group B – Denmark, South Korea, France, Germany
Group C – China, India, Netherlands, Tahiti
Group D – Japan, Malaysia, Canada, England
Uber Cup Draw:
Group A – Japan, Indonesia, Germany, France
Group B – Thailand, India, Spain, Scotland
Group C – South Korea, Taiwan, Tahiti, Egypt
Group D – China, Denmark, Malaysia, Canada
