The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are in hot pursuit in a much-needed search for women's singles players due to a dearth of quality shuttlers evident in that category.

National women’s singles coach James Chua said the national body needed more time to identify not only talented but also young shuttlers.

“Some of the players we have are getting back on track. The problem is their age. Some of them are 19 [or] 20. For women, it can be considered as overage.

"We are looking for younger players, as it is more materialistic to build them up,” he said.

In evidence of the ongoing Malaysia International Challenge (MIC), the country is shorn of quality women’s singles firepower.

K. Letshaana, a former national shuttler who recently turned independent, was through to the last eight as the only Malaysian left standing.

This came after 15 Malaysians made the main 32 draw of the lower-tier World Tour event happening in Ipoh until Sunday.

The top two ranked shuttlers – Goh Jin Wei and S. Kisona – both pulled out for different reasons.

Goh skipped the tournament to focus on her recovery after featuring in Bangladesh last week, while Kisona had to concede a walkover after a knee injury flared up.

Malaysian women's singles players Chan Wen Tse, Wong Ling Ching, Siti Nurshuhaini, Myisha Khairul, Khor Jing Wen and Carmen Ting all crashed out on Thursday.

The women’s singles is a big concern, especially with the other events at the local meet dominated by Malaysian shuttlers who already booked their last-eight berths.

With Kisona beset with constant injuries and Goh not up to par due to health reasons, Malaysia do not have many other choices to turn to on the senior stage.

Soniia Cheah, who had experience competing at the Tokyo Olympics, had also retired this week due to injury.

19 or 20 dikira terlalu tua dalam karier badminton? ?#BWF #Badminton pic.twitter.com/Sy6LS3Nr95
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