Malaysia's Thomas Cup errand simply got a ton harder, in the event that it wasn't overwhelming enough.
This is after the Badminton World Federation (BWF) upset the one-year boycott on South Korean doubles Lee Yong-dae and Kim Ki-jung for neglecting to appear for drug tests a year ago.
Yong-dae and Ki-jung who are separately combined with Yoo Yeon-seong and Kim Sa-rang were slapped with the boycott in January this year.
After a review of the case of the duo by the BWF doping panel, it was found out that Lee Yong-dae and Kim Ki-jung were not at fault.
Rather, it was the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) who fizzled in their forethought of players which prompted the pair missing the tests.
The BKA have been fined USD 41,170 (Rm133,703) for their breach of conduct.
In a press statement by the BWF, the Federation expressed that “the doping hearing panel have determined that the information presented at the January hearing was insufficient and ambiguous.”
It likewise stated that the sanction given to Yong-dae and Ki-jung are immediately lifted and the pair is now allowed to continue action instantaneously.
The decision may have been sound for the Korean duo but it spells trouble for Malaysia who are drawn in the same Group C together with Germany and India for the leading team event from May 18 – 15 in New Delhi.
With Malaysia’s doubles’ recent poor performances, passing through group stages may seem impossible.
In any case, national doubles coach Pang Cheh Chang believes that with proper preparation, the doubles still has realistic chance of getting in.
Cheh Chang said, “to be honest, it definitely makes our job a lot tougher now.”
“But at the end of the day, it doesn’t make much difference because my players still need to focus on their own game rather than on the Koreans.
“The Koreans have proven that there is life even without Yong-dae and Ki-jung so it was a challenging task from the start anyway.”
Throughout the nonappearance of Yong-dae and Ki-jung, their usual partners Yeon-seong and Sa-rang consolidated very well to make it to the the semi-finals of the Singapore Open a week ago.
World No. 25 Ko Sung-hyun and Shin Baek-cheol, the third Korean pair, additionally hit a great patch with semi-finals showings in the Singapore meet and the All-England.
Cheh Chang said, “I believe what’s most important for Malaysia is this period of preparation. The team have one month of centralised training without matches to distract them.”
“What my players need to work on now is their weaknesses. After several tournaments, everyone knows where they are weak and that is what we are looking to remedy.
“At the end of the day, I believe we can still pull through if we are well prepared and focused on the task at hand,” Cheh Chang concluded.
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