The Malaysia national junior badminton team failed to clear the group stage of the mixed team event at the BWF World Junior Championships, their worst-ever performance since the event's inception in 2000.
Malaysia, who won the mixed team event in 2011 and finished runners-up in 2016 and 2017, started the tournament in Kazan, Russia, in spectacular fashion with victories over the host nation (3-2), Macau (5-0) and Canada (4-1).
As only group winners were assured of qualification to the quarter-finals, Malaysia needed to beat Hong Kong in their final group match.
Boys' doubles pair Ching Kai Feng-Lwi Sheng Hao and boys' singles shuttler Jacky Kok managed to score points for Malaysia, but it was Hong Kong who prevailed with victories in the girls’ doubles, girls’ singles and mixed doubles.
If Malaysia are struggling to compete at the junior level, where the standards of shuttlers do not differ much, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will have an almighty task ahead of the 2024 Olympics, where they have targeted gold in Paris, France.
"We have thought and deliberated on this issue, and the reason we have targeted gold in 2024 is because we have many young players.
"As we journey there, there will be pit-stops like Tokyo 2020 and the 2022 Asian Games. But we want to instill a culture of excellence now itself to get there," said BAM secretary-general Kenny Goh recently.
Based on this outing, Malaysia have regressed on the junior stage, but the juniors will have a chance of atonement when individual events begin on October 7.
In the all-time medal table of the BWF World Junior Championships, Malaysia are the second most successful nation with 13 gold medals after China (63).
