PETALING JAYA: On Saturday, BAM announced that Soon Huat will join Lee Chong Wei, Chong Wei Feng and Liew Daren as fourth singles for the Thomas Cup Finals in New Delhi from May 18-25. 
The announcement ended speculations that Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) would include Misbun Ramdan Misbun as the fourth singles player because he is more aggressive and has won five international tournaments so far.
In men’s doubles, BAM has selected Peng Soon instead of Ow Yao Han and Koo Kien Keat. Malaysia will have total of six doubles players – Tan Boon Heong, Hoon Thien How, Lim Khim Wah, Goh V Shem, Tan Wee Kiong and Chan Peng Soon for its Thomas Cup squad.
“The BAM council members voted for Soon Huat unanimously. We wanted to be fair, objective and send the best shuttler to Thomas Cup. Soon Huat has been working very hard and came out on top in both selection trials, that’s why we chose him,” said Tengku Mahaleel, he also announced that the centralized training will start on Monday.
“Thomas Cup team members will start the team-building process tomorrow before leaving for New Delhi on May 15.”
“We would like to win the trophy if we can, but, our goal for this year is to reach semi-final. However, I would still like the players to play their best in every game.”
Malaysia is in Group C with South Korea, Germany and India. Only top two teams will advance to the quarter-finals.
For the Uber Cup squad, Malaysia has selected Tee Jing Yee, Yang Li Lian, Lim Chiew Sien and Lim Yin Fun for women’s singles, and Woon Khe Wei-Vivian Hoo, Amelia Anscelly-Soong Fie Cho and Lee Meng Yean-Lim Yin Loo for women’s doubles.
