SHAH ALAM, Feb 19 — Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann singled out national junior women’s singles player Siti Nurshuhaini Azman as the most prominent Malaysian player so far in the 2022 Badminton Asian Team Championship (BATC) here.

Choong Hann said he really admired Siti Nurshuhaini’s drive after she showed good attacking and defensive play during the ongoing 2022 BATC at the Setia City Convention Centre here, since last Tuesday.

The former national player said world no 331 Siti Nurshuhaini still had a lot of room for improvement, especially in terms of tactical approach and her skills on the court in her quest to become a good player in the future.

"I think Siti Nurshuhaini has strength in terms of her physique but she needs to improve her skills to have a range of tactics or game plans on court.

"Court coverage is good but she needs to improve in terms of winning points,” he told reporters after Malaysia’s women squad lost 0-3 to South Korea in the BATC semi-finals.

He also believed the 17-year-old can be polished further to join the ranks of the world’s top 40 shuttlers if she can improve her smashing prowess and skills soon.

On Malaysia’s performance today, Choong Hann admitted that the national women’s team lost to a stronger squad and stated that his charges needed to improve more during training after this.

Despite losing 11-21, 21-15, 13-21 to Lee Se Yeon, Siti Nurshuhaini emerged as the only national player to drag the match to the deciding set today after two other Malaysians went down in straight sets.

The country’s top singles player S. Kisona lost 16-21, 17-21 to Sim Yujin in the first match while the world no 14 doubles pair, Baek Ha Na-Seong Seung Yeon easily beat national pair Valeree Siow-Pearly Tan 21-15, 21-14.

Malaysian badminton started paying attention to Siti Nurshuhain after her victory against Hina Akechi from Japan, 21-16, 22-20, in the third match of their Group Y encounter last Tuesday inspired Malaysia to come from behind and beat the defending champions 3-2.

Asked about Kisona’s performance, Choong Hann also commented on Kisona’s performance, saying that the 2019 South East Asia (SEA) Games champion showed improvement after struggling with erratic performance apart from being infected with Covid-19 last year.

"Kisona has improved in terms of movement on court but she needs a little more time to become stronger,” he said.

Meanwhile, Choong Hann admitted that the gap in the country’s women’s singles camp is still large compared to other world badminton powerhouses, especially from the mental and physical aspects, but he was confident that they can present a more formidable challenge in the future after the coaching staff steps up on training intensity for players.

Despite failing to reach the 2022 BATC final, the Malaysian women’s squad can still be proud of their achievement as they managed to meet the semi-finals target, which will see Malaysia automatically qualify for the Uber Cup scheduled to take place in Bangkok this May.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Wong Tat Meng, who is currently South Korea’s singles coach, said he was satisfied with the determination shown by his charges at the tournament.

Tat Meng, who is a former BAM coach, expressed his hope that his players would do their best to beat Indonesia in the final tomorrow and emerge champions for the first time after finishing second in the 2020 edition, their best achievement so far. — Bernama