Road to the Finals | Malaysian Badminton @ The Olympics
This will be where I talk about the matchups that our Malaysian shuttlers will likely have to face if they do indeed make a run to the finals.
MS | Lee Zii Jia
Arguably the most in form (although sometimes inconsistent) player coming into the Olympics, being the winner of a breathtaking final at the All-England in March (the last tournament leading up to the Olympics). He beat Viktor Axelsen in the final and Kento Momota, another favourite in straight sets in the semi-finals.
But it’s been the consistency that he’s been lacking, as he crashed out of the World Tour Finals (January) in the Group Stages, losing all his games (Axelsen, Ginting & Chou Tien Chen) as well as the Thailand Masters in the Round of 32 (losing after 3 sets against Sameer Verma).
In order to make a run for an Olympic medal, he starts off in Group M against French player Brice Leverdez and Ukranian player Artem Pochtarov. Both matches should be relatively straightforward, although Leverdez can pose up a surprise from time to time.
Should Lee Zii Jia come out of his group unscathed, he will face the winner of Group N (Chen Long, Pablo Abian & Raul Must), which likely will be Chen Long. Next up would likely be Chou Tien Chen (who would receive a bye in RO16 if he wins Group P).
Antonsen and Anthony Ginting represent potential semi-final clashes should Lee Zii Jia make it to the semis and Axelsen/Momota are favourites to emerge from the top half of the draw.
MD | Aaron Chia & Soh Wooi Yik
Aaron Chia & Soh Wooi Yik face a tricky task to even qualify from their group, being placed in Group D together with reigning world champions Mohammad Ahsan & Hendra Setiawan and the Korean pair of Choi Solgyu & Seo Seungjae. Canadian pair Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura round up Group D.
Chia and Soh skipped the All-England (2021) and lost in their most recent tournament appearance (Swiss Open) against German pair Seidell/Lamsfuss. In the World Tour Finals, Chia/Soh finished tied for 3rd in their group after losses against Ahsan/Setiawan and Russian pair Ivanov/Sozanov. They can, however, take solace by their win over Choi/Seo in their other encounter in the group.
Chia and Soh also came close to a title in January in the Thailand open before succumbing in the final against a very in-form Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin. Like Lee Zii Jia, it has been consistency that the men’s doubles pair has found lacking, with the potential for a big result definitely there.
Their H2H against Choi/Seo (which I foresee being the fight for second) is 2-2, with Chia/Soh winning 2 of their most recent encounters (World Tour Finals 2021 and French Open 2019). The Malaysian pair are 1-6 against Setiawan/Ahsan (the Indonesians winning the last 2) and have not faced against the Canadian pair previously.
The top 2 from the group qualify for the quaterfinals.
Chia/Soh will face Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Markus Gideon in the quarterfinals, arguably one of the hardest matchups this early and Li/Liu or Astrup/Rasmussen in the semis. Ahsan/Setiawan, Watanabe/Endo or Lee/Wang are favourites from the bottom half of the draw.
WS | Soniia Cheah
Soniia Cheah is perhaps the biggest outsider to a medal amongst the Malaysian badminton contingent, coming into it 35th ranked in the world. She has struggled for form this year, with first round exits in the All-England (PV Sindhu), Swiss Open (Yvonne Li), Toyota Thailand Open (Sung Jihyun) and Yonex Thailand Open (An Seyoung).
Granted, the losses have come against higher ranked opponents - but it just goes to show how difficult it has been for Cheah in the circuit this year.
She has been placed in Group N of the draw with 2013 World Champion Ratchanok Inthanon and Laura Sarosi (Hungary). Cheah needs to come out top of her group in order to qualify for the Round of 16.
Cheah has a 0-4 H2H record with Inthanon, with their last encounter coming at the 2020 All-England (9-21, 11-21). She has yet to face Sarosi before, although she does boast of a higher world ranking (35th compared to 74th in the world).
Should Cheah grind out a group N victory, she will face the winner of Group M (Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, Lianne Tan, Thet Htar Thuzar), which is likely to be the Indonesian Tunjung (ranked 23rd in the world), followed by a likely encounter with 2020 World Tour Final Champion (Revised Date in 2021) Tai Tzu Ying, followed by either Sindhu/Yamaguchi in the semi finals and a likely final with Okuhara/Chen Yu Fei.
I will have to add that the Women’s Singles is arguably the most unpredictable one of the lot, which I talk about in my favourites column of my Badminton guide.
WD | Chow Mei Kuan & Lee Meng Yean
Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean will hope to replicate Vivian Hoo and Woon Khe Wei’s (Janice) quaterfinal appearance in Rio, after being placed in a difficult group featuring first seeds Hirota/Fukushima and Indonesian pair Rahayu/Polii, with British pair Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith rounding up Group A of the Women’s Doubles.
Chow and Lee made it to the semi finals of the Swiss Open in the build-up to the Olympics, losing to their compatriots Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in three sets. The pair can take heart by their most encounter with Rahayu/Polii resulting in a win for the pair in the round robins of the World Tour Finals earlier this year, making it to the semifinals there.
The pair also made the semifinals of the Toyota Thailand open this year, losing to Korean pair Kong Heeyong and Kim Soyeong.
Whilst first may be difficult, beating the inconsitent Rahayu/Polii is key to securing that second place spot to get to the quaterfinals. Chow/Lee have a 2-2 record against Rahayu/Polii, winning their last two encounters, a 0-1 record against Smith/Birch (Spanish Masters 2020) and a 0-6 record against the first seeds (although their last encounter was February last year.
XD | Chan Peng Soon & Goh Liu Ying
The veterans of the Malaysian badminton contingent, Rio 2016 silver medalists Goh and Chan will be hoping for another medal in yet another Olympic adventure for the pair.
The pair head into the Olympics following a steady performance at the All-England, reaching the semi finals (losing to the promising Kaneko/Matsumoto pair), an encouraging Swiss Open, reaching the quarters (losing to Danish pair Boje and Christiansen in three sets) as well as quater final appearances in both the Yonex Thailand Open (losing to eventual champions Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai) and the Toyota Thailand Open (losing to Indian pair Ponnappa and Rankireddy in a three set thriller).
The Malaysian pair have been drawn in Group D with second seeds Huang and Wang, German pair Lamsfuss and Herttrich and Hong Kong pair Tang/Tse. In terms of world rankings, Chan and Goh are the second highest ranked in the group, but this group is quite frankly very tight for the second spot (and we haven’t seen the Chinese pair in action this year).
Chan/Goh have a 2-7 record against the Chinese second seeds, with their last win dating back to 2018, a 1-4 record against Tang/Tse (with the Hong Kong pair winning the last 4 encounters) and a 3-0 record against Lamsfuss/Herttrich (last encounter January 2020).
As with the men’s doubles, I will update accordingly when I know the details of the knockout draw.