KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 ― Siti Nurshuhaini Azman is hoping the invaluable experience she gained at the Uber Cup 2020 in Aarhus, Denmark in October last year will put her in good stead at the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) 2022, which begins next Tuesday.

The 18-year-old player from Rawang, Selangor said although there was a big gap between her and the best players at the world women’s team championship then, it did not deter her from using the tournament to learn as much as possible.

The world ranked 309th player, who is expected to play third singles at BATC behind Eoon Qi Xuan and S. Kisona, reckons she needs about four more years to become a major challenger on the world stage.

"At the Uber Cup, I learnt from world-class players, the way they play and their attitude on and off court. Initially, I was quite nervous but after attuning my mindset to the fact that I was playing for the experience, I managed to put up a bit of fight.

"I am excited to be given an opportunity at BATC. I will make the best of the situation and prove that I can be a serious challenger,” she told reporters after a training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara here today.

In Aarhus, Siti Nurshuhaini lost 8-21, 3-21 to China’s He Bing Jiao, who is now world number nine, at the group stage.

Siti Nurshuhaini, who has been promoted to the national senior team for a month, said her lack of height at just 154cm would not be a handicap in her bid to become a world-class player.

She takes inspiration from world number one Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan and world number two Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, who stand at 163cm and 156cm respectively.

Siti Nurshuhaini’s teammate Myisha Mohd Khairul is also excited at the chance to strut her skills with the senior team for the first time.

"I have been training for this and cannot wait to be fielded. I hope to give it my best shot because the other teams are stronger and more experienced,” she said.

At BATC, Malaysia’s women’s team have been drawn in Group Y with defending champions Japan and India while Group Z has runners-up South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan. The tournament will be held at the Setia City Convention Centre in Shah Alam from February 15 to 20. ― Bernama