KUALA LUMPUR: Muhammad Fazriq Razif hopes to blaze a badminton trail like his famous father when the World Junior Championships (WJC) begins on Monday in Santander, Spain.
Like Razif Sidek, Fazriq is also a doubles specialist.
Razif was a member of the Malaysian team that won the 1992 Thomas Cup. He also won the All-England doubles and an Olympic bronze with his younger brother, Jalani.
Fazriq, 18, is eager to make his long-awaited debut, which was delayed by two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest shuttler from Malaysia's famed Sidek badminton family aims for nothing less than a podium finish in what is also his only WJC appearance as he will be overage for next year's edition. Fazriq is one of the many players born in 2004 who have lost the last two good years of their junior career due to the Covid pandemic.
The WJC was not held in 2020 and 2021.
Fazriq will reunite with Wong Vin Sean, with whom he won the National Under-21 title in May, for the WJC.
"I believe in our ability. As long as we're able to bring out our best game, winning a medal is always within our reach," he said.
Last month, when Vin Sean was injured, Fazriq combined briefly with Jeremy Juan, and they did well to finish runners-up to compatriots Bryan Jeremy Goonting-Choi Jian Sheng at the India Junior International Grand Prix.
Fazriq described the WJC as the "biggest" event of his life so far.
"I'm very excited to play in this world competition. This has to be the biggest event of my life and for me, it's also once in a lifetime.
"There will be no more WJC for me after this year. So I want to make it as memorable as possible.
"Since Vin Sean got back in training, our preparations have been going well. With some finishing touches before the tournament starts, we're good to go," he said.
Apart from Justin Hoh and Eogene Ewe Eon in the boys' singles, the boys' doubles department will be Malaysia's best bet for the podium.
Malaysia is the most successful country in the boys' doubles event at the WJC, having won seven times in the past 21 editions. The previous winners include Jeremy Gan-Chan Chong Ming (1996), Chong Ming-Teo Kok Seng (1998), Hoon Thien How-Tan Boon Heong (2004), Mak Hee Chun-Teo Kok Siang (2008), Ow Yao Han-Chooi Kah Ming (2009), Yao Hao-Yew Hong Kheng (2010) and Nelson Heg-Teo Ee Yi (2011).
Boys' doubles coach Vountus Indra Mawan foresees the Santander edition as anybody's game.
"For once, there will be no clear favourites. It's going to be an open affair," he said. "The existing world junior rankings aren't a true reflection of the actual strength of these players as the majority of them have not been competing actively in the past 2½ years due to the pandemic
"It will be hard to gauge the actual level as we haven't really seen players from China, Taiwan and South Korea in action for a very long time.
"But having said that, I have no doubts that our pairs, Fazriq-Vin Sean and Jian Shen-Bryan, will mount a strong challenge."
In Kazan (in the Republic of Tatarstan of Russia) three years ago, Wan Arif Junaidi and Haikal Nazri emerged Malaysia's best performers by reaching the quarter-finals.