[size=-1]The Star Online > Sports[/size] Thursday October 21, 2004 [size=+2]Chance for juniors to claim stake in the elite squad[/size] PETALING JAYA: The Malaysians are not seen as title contenders but they still have a lot to fight for in the World Junior Badminton Championships, which begin at the Minoru Arena in Vancouver today. They are the country's hope for the future and their performances in Vancouver will determine their chances of making the elite team for next year. National singles chief coach Misbun Sidek has plans to rope in the promising players from the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) next year with an aim to prepare them for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The world junior championships begin with the mixed team competition today. But Malaysia's hopes of making any impact in the championships will be in the individual competitions from Oct 25-30. Coach Rosman Razak said that they were on placing much hope in the mixed team competition. “We do not have a chance to qualify for the second stage because we are in the same group as China,†said Rosman before he left with the team for Vancouver on Tuesday. “Our target is to finish fifth. At the last championships in South Africa two years ago, we were placed seventh.†Besides Malaysia and top seeds China, the other teams in Group W are Slovenia and Peru. China, led by world junior champion Chen Jin, are the overwhelming favourites to win their third consecutive title in the mixed team competition, which is played in the same format as the Sudirman Cup. A tie is decided over five matches – the singles and doubles for boys and girls and the mixed doubles. In the four-group preliminaries, the winners will advance to the championship playoffs. The group runners-up go into the fifth-eighth classification playoffs. Malaysia have Chong Wei Feng, Tan Chun Seang, Lim Kenn and Azrihanif Azahar as the boys' singles players and a boys' doubles pair in Hoon Thien How-Tan Boon Heong. The girls' players are Anita Kaur Raj, Amelia Anscelly and Haw Chiou Hwee. Malaysia have two ties today – against Slovenia and Peru. They will wrap up their group fixture against China tomorrow. For the individual competitions, Rosman hopes that his charges will rise to the occasion. “Pang (Cheh Chang, the doubles coach) and I have done our best to prepare them for a championships of this level,†said Rosman. “Unlike previously, the BJSS players have had more quality training. They sparred with the national players in the last two months and there is more reason to believe that they will do better this time. “I hope at least one of the singles player will clear the early roundsâ€
