KUALA LUMPUR: Girls' world No. 7 Siti Zulaikha Azmi will be missing from the Malaysian badminton team for the World Junior Championships (WJC) in Nanchang, China, from Sept 30-Oct 13.
Siti Zulaikha, who won two bronze at the Asian Junior Championships in Yogjakarta in July, is suffering from an Achilles injury.
She lost the race to be fit in time for the WJC and will be replaced by Eng Ler Qi. The other players in the girls' team are Ong Xin Yee, Oo Shan Zi and Lim Zhi Shin.
Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing will lead the boys' doubles alongside Sukma champions Faiq Haziq Masawi-Lok Hong Quan. Tan Zhi Yang-Loh Zi Heng are the other pair.
For the boys' singles competition, Sng Wei Ming and Kong Zhou Swin will lead the Malaysian challenge.
Reigning Sukma doubles champions, Dania Sofea Zaidi-Low Zi Yu will spearhead the country's challenge in the girls' doubles.
They will be joined by national under-18 champions Xin Yee-Carmen Ting and Aqilah Maisarah Ramdan-Nicole Chau. Zi Yu is the youngest player in the squad at just 14.
For the mixed doubles, Dania Sofea will pull double duty, partnering Datu Anif Datu Asrah. The other mixed doubles pairs are Tan Zhi Yang-Aqilah Maisarah Ramdan, Loh Zi Heng-Clarissa San, and Wee Yee Tern-Nicole Tan.
BAM acting president and junior task force chairman, Datuk V. Subramaniam, said: "We have monitored these players over the last few months, both in training and during competitions. Detailed discussions were held with the junior coaching team headed by Jeffer Rosobin before the list was finalised.
"We've also included younger players like Zi Yu to provide her with valuable experience at the highest level."
Malaysia won three bronze medals at last year's edition in Spokane, Washington.
The medals came from the mixed team event, boys' doubles (Aaron Tai-Bryan Goonting) and mixed doubles (Low Han Chen-Chong Jie Yu).