KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has set a target for men’s singles player Chong Wei Feng to reach the top 16 in the world ranking in order to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
BAM technical director Morten Frost Hansen said he had an individual discussion with Wei Feng about his tournament programmes towards qualifying for the Olympics.
Under these programmes, Frost noted that Wei Feng might have to complete 14 tournaments until the end of this year.
“Wei Feng is ready to move forward and he is happy with the tournament programmes that we gave him. We have discussed and agreed with it.
“I would say, my estimate is 14 tournaments this year. There will be more new tournament programmes running from January 1 until May 1, 2016, when the qualification ends,” he told reporters at BAM office in Bukit Kiara, here, today.
Wei Feng is currently ranked 32nd in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) world ranking.
Wei Feng, 27, was dropped from the World Championship in Jakarta to accommodate world No. 46 Datuk Lee Chong Wei although the latter did not qualify on merit.
Meanwhile, Frost said BAM received two more invites from BWF for the women’s doubles and mixed doubles event.
He said Lee Meng Yean/Lim Yin Loo would be playing in the women’s doubles while Wong Fai Yin/Chow Mei Kuan in the mixed doubles.
“That gives a total of 11 entries with two men’s singles, one men’s doubles, two women’s singles, three women’s doubles and three mixed doubles.
“Out of the total of 18, two are independent players,” he added. — Bernama
