Top five Malaysian shuttlers favourite to qualify for Paris Olympics after March 2024

Published at :April 3, 2024 at 6:17 PM

Modified at :April 16, 2024 at 10:49 AM

(Courtesy : Screenshot/ BWF YouTube)

Malaysia are eyeing their maiden badminton gold at the Summer Olympics.

As the clock ticks down to the Paris Olympics, badminton players around the globe are in a frenzied rush to secure their spots at the Summer Games. The qualification period, which began on May 1, 2023, is set to conclude on April 28, 2024, leaving athletes with a narrow window to secure ranking points through their performance in BWF-sanctioned tournaments.

During the Qualification Window, Only the top 10 tournaments in which a player has secured the highest-ranking points are considered for qualification.

Ng Tze Yong’s recent withdrawal from the upcoming Badminton Asia Championships, owing to an injury, has dashed his chances of making it to the Paris Olympics. Presently, he holds the 18th spot in global rankings with a total of 58,735 points, which regrettably falls short of Olympic qualification.

So, as of March 2024, who are the top five Malaysian shuttlers’ favourites to qualify for Paris Olympics? Take a look.

Lee Zii Jia

The former All England Champion, currently ranked 10th in the world with 68,296 points, is expected to be overtaken by Loh Kean Yew. The Singaporean shuttler, fresh from his victory at the Spain Masters, will enter top 10 rankings. However, with just one month left in the qualification period, this ranking change will have no effect in the Paris Olympic qualification. The top 16 players in the rankings will qualify, and Lee Zii Jia is in a comfortable place.

The Malaysian recently ended a 17-month title drought by winning the Arctic Open in October 2023. He continued his strong performance by reaching the Denmark Open final the following week.

Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik

The men’s doubles pair is currently ranked fifth in the world with 90,664 ranking points and has mathematically secured their place at the Olympics with the next best Malaysian men’s doubles duo over 5000 rankings points behind.

Chia/Yik made history as the first Malaysian badminton players to win the BWF World Championships in 2022. The former world champions also recently finished as runners-up at the All England Open, losing to Indonesia’s Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian in the final.

They have also claimed a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships and are now aiming to become the first Malaysians to win an Olympic Gold in badminton.

Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei

The pair are currently ranked ninth in the world with 67,438 points and are on track to qualify for the Olympics. They have been on and about in the Badminton circuit, their achievements include a semi-final appearance at the China Open (Super 1000), victory at the Orleans Masters and Taipei Open (2023), and a runner-up finish at the Thailand Masters (2023) and Swiss Open (2024). They are a formidable pair and could pose a significant challenge to other teams in their category.

Tan Pearly/Thinaah Muralitharan

Currently ranked 14th in the world with 62761 points, Pearly and Thinaah are almost through to the Olympics.

Tan and Muralitharan have been known to give power-packed performances. The duo made it to the quarterfinals of the recently concluded All England Open, defeating the world number 1 pair Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan along the way. Pearly and Thinaah can be a surprise factor and win a medal for Malaysia. They were the runners-up at Malaysia Masters and Hong Kong Open last year and won the Commonwealth Games gold in 2022.

Goh Jin Wei

Goh Jin Wei, a two-time junior world champion, is currently ranked 33rd globally with 39,733 points. Her qualification for the Paris Olympics is nearly assured, as the next highest-ranked Malaysians in women’s singles are Karupathevan Letshanaa at number 64 and Wong Ling Ching at number 77. Goh was the runner-up at the Vietnam Open 2022 and clinched a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018.

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