Astro Kem Badminton alumni win German Junior Open

Astro Kem Badminton (AKB) alumni were among the big winners of the 2020 German Junior Open on Sunday.

In the boys' singles event, Jacky Kok Jing Hong won the title by beating Indonesia's Alvi Wijaya Chairullah 21-15, 21-15, with Justin Hoh joining him on the podium with a bronze medal.

Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, with partner Haikal Nazri, took home the boys' doubles crown with a 13-21, 21-18, 21-16 win over Indonesian duo Rayhan Nur Fadillah and Rahmat Hidayat.

Kok and Arif were former AKB participants in 2014, while Hoh was from the 2016 batch.

Besides the trio, the 12-member Malaysian team competing in Germany featured six more AKB alumni, namely Valeree Siow Zi Xuan, Cheng Su Hui, Myisha Khairul, Goh Boon Zhe, Tan Zhing Yi, and Fazriq Razif Sidek.

Malaysia also bagged a bronze medal at the Under-19 tournament through mixed doubles pair Haikal and Low Yee Yuan.

Astro Kem Badminton was launched in November 2012 to identify talented children aged between 10 and 12 years old and nurture them to become badminton prodigies through a series of comprehensive training programmes, as well as competitive-play experiences at regional and international level.

The programme is a collaboration between Astro Kasih and the Ministry of Education Malaysia, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and the Nippon Badminton Association (NBA).

Currently, more than 50% of Malaysia’s national badminton youth squad are Astro Kem Badminton alumni.