PETALING JAYA: Malaysia endured a horrendous outing at the recent Asian Junior Badminton Championships in Taiwan.
Only girls’ singles shuttler S. Kisona made the quarter-finals while the rest crashed out in the early rounds.
While the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) juniors failed miserably, there was some joy for the club-based juniors.
On Sunday, Yeoh Seng Zoe-Chong Chun Quan, who are attached with the Looi Academy, made a breakthrough of sorts by winning the boys’ doubles title in the Uganda International.
Seng Zoe, 17, and Chun Quan, 18, defeated South Africans Andries Malan-Willem Viljoen 21-15, 11-21, 21-14 in their first-ever international competition.
“This is the boys’ first tournament overseas and I’m happy that they managed to win,” said Looi Academy managing director Datuk Jack Koh.
“They were actually scouted from the Malaysia’s Next Badminton Superstar programme that is co-sponsored by Sen Heng and Samsung, Genting Group for a three-year scholarship with us.
“We have 15 players under this programme and it’s good to see that we actually have some talent out there.
“In a way it’s our collaboration with BAM in order to promote the sport and assist in their development,” added Jack.
