SHAH ALAM – Hong Kong’s national men’s singles head coach, Wong Choong Hann, openly admits that his team fears the prowess of China and India in the upcoming Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC), scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
The 46-year-old, who has three Commonwealth Games gold medals under his belt (1998 Kuala Lumpur in men’s singles and men’s teams and 2006 Melbourne in mixed team), said that despite obstacles, he expects his charges to approach the tournament to collect their merit points to qualify for this year’s Paris Olympics.
“I won this tournament with Malaysia in the previous edition (2022), but now it’s going to be a challenge for me to replicate the same success as a coach for the Hong Kong national team.
“It’s going to be really tough for us to say which team we will likely beat in our group to make it to the next round, as we are in the middle of two big giants, China and India.
“When I look at the name list of the Indian players, it’s going to be even tougher for us as they have some world-class players on their team. The Chinese team is also going to be tough for us despite them fielding a very young squad (second tier) for the tournament.
“I won’t consider my group a group of death, as I only fear my opponents. I don’t think India and China fear us. All teams should be scared of each other,” said Choong Hann after the test court session at Setia City Convention Centre yesterday.
However, the former Akademi Badminton Malaysia singles coaching director also said that Hong Kong reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament can already be considered an achievement for the national team.
“I’m happy to see the progress of my singles player Lee CheukYiu, as he has been doing well in training over the past few months, but I’m also happy with all my boys’ progress.
“All my players are equally important, and their time to shine is slightly different compared to one another.
“Previously, I was with a championship-winning side, and now I’m with Hong Kong. For me, it’s the same. I will maintain the same level of responsibility and professionalism as a coach.
“In terms of our team line-up, we will arrange based on the players’ current situations and their performance levels throughout the training and field them accordingly for our group matches,” he added.
Hong Kong’s men’s team will take on China and India in Group A, while the women’s team will take on Indonesia and Kazakhstan in Group X.
The top four teams from both the men’s and women’s events will qualify for the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in China on April 28 to May 5. – February 11, 2024
