KUALA LUMPUR: If the BA of Malaysia (BAM) have listed down Lee Chong Wei, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Lee Zii Jia as the men’s singles players for the Asia Team Championship in Alor Star, Kedah next February, which is the qualifying round for the Thomas Cup, then the fourth or reserve spot will most likely be that of Soong Joo Ven.
This is because the Kuala Lumpur born player firmly believes he has the much needed fighting spirit which is what Chong Wei wants to see in other national shuttlers.
"I dare not say (about the selection of players) but if you look at team events, the last time I played in a team event was at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August, and I think most people know what happened then,” he said when met during the Kepong Badminton Club’s meet-and-greet session with fans at the Sentosa Sports Arena yesterday.
During the Sea Games, Joo Ven had no problems as he helped the national team march to the semi-finals after he contributed the winning point by easily defeating Xaysomphone Vongpachith, 21-10, 21-9.
In the semi-final against Singapore, he performed once again as he beat Penang born Loh Kean Yew, 9-21,2117, 21-18 to help Malaysia to the final where they faced archrivals Indonesia.
However, in the final Malaysia had to settle for Silver when the national team went down 3-0 to the Indonesians with Iskandar Zulkarnain going down to Jonatan Christie, men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi falling at the hands of Fajar Alfian-Muhamad Rian Ardianto, and Zii Jia defeated by Ihsan Maulana Mustofa.
When asked if he is confident he will part of the squad for the Thomas Cup qualifying round in February, behind Chong Wei, Iskandar Zulkarnain and Zii Jia in the pecking order, the 22-year-old player said it is still not a certainty yet.
"Well if I am selected then it will by my second outing for a team qualifying round after helping Malaysia last year to the quarter-finals before being defeated by hosts India 2-3,” he said.
At the time Joo Ven helped Malaysia register a convincing 5-0 win over Nepal, however during the final match of the Group Stage against Japan, he lost at the hands of Kenta Nishimoto, 18-21, 19-21.
Joo Ven did not feature when Malaysia went down to India in the quarter-finals, however the national team still managed to qualify for the 2016 Thomas Cup edition as the fourth best team in Asia behind India, Indonesia and South Korea, while Japan advanced as defending champions while China made it as hosts.