Kuala Lumpur: On Thursday, the Malaysian Thomas and Uber Cup teams headed off to Bangkok to participate in the 2018 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals that will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from May 20 to May 27.
Malaysia’s men’s doubles head coach Cheah Soon Kit told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) that the Malaysian Thomas Cup team will try out various combinations of men’s doubles pair during the tournament aiming to catch their opponents completely off guard.
“Yes, we have a lot of secret weapons and I hope they are good weapons,” said Cheah.
Obviously, among the so called “weapons” that can be applied during the Thomas Cup would be to pair Teo Ee Yi with Goh V Shem since both of them had played together as a pair for few months at the end of last year.
Teo Ee Yi, who is not with his regular partner, Ong Yew Sin, just like Arif Latif playing without his regular partner, Azriyn Ayub, could form unique combinations with any players in the squad.
“Before they were reunited, V Shem and Wee Kiong already had experience playing with other players last year, therefore, I have more choices for player lineup in the tournament,” added Cheah.
“As for Denmark, after they lost some of their top players such as Carsten Mogensen, it’s going to be hard to judge how they will perform since we still do not know who their second pair will be,” said Cheah.
When talking about Malaysia’s young men’s pair, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, Cheah Soon Kit who helped Malaysia won the 1992 Thomas Cup, said it’s good opportunity for both players to experience the highest level of competition at the prestigious tournament.
“Of course, they will be played because there are still teams like Russia and Algeria in Group D.”
In addition to the men’s doubles players, the Malaysian squad consists of four men’s singles players including team captain Lee Chong Wei, Lee Zii Jia, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Leong Jun Hao.
