KUALA LUMPUR: Less than a month into their partnership, national men’s doubles player Muhammad Haikal Nazri is determined to achieve the near-impossible mission of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with new ally Nur Izzuddin Rumsani.
With the qualification process for Paris expected to start this May, Muhammad Haikal said they have set a target of at least advancing to the semi-finals in each tournament as well as collecting points to qualify for the world’s biggest sports event.
“Yes… Nur Izzuddin and I have discussed, he wants to fight for the 2024 Paris Olympics, that’s the target,” he said at a training session here yesterday.
Regarding his playing style with Nur Izzuddin, Muhammad Haikal said his role was more defensive by being in front while his partner was given the task of attacking from behind.
He also wants to find his rhythm following the slip disc injury he suffered after winning the 2022 Malaysia International Challenge Championship in Ipoh last December with Nur Izzuddin.
He said they are both scheduled to compete in three tournaments next month, namely the Ruichang Masters China 2023 (March 14-19), followed by the Vietnam International Challenge (March 21-26) and the Osaka International Challenge in Japan (March 29-April 2).
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) recently reshuffled the three national pairs after Nur Izzuddin decided to part ways with doubles partner Goh Sze Fei due to a lapse in confidence.
The situation meant Muhammad Haikal’s previous partnership with Wan Muhammad Arif Wan Junaidi since 2019, had to be broken up to make way for him to team up with Nur Izzuddin.
Wan Muhammad Arif will be paired with Yap Roy King, who is also a mixed doubles player with Valeree Siow while Sze Fei forms a partnership with Choong Hon Jian.
Realising that time is running out to build a strong partnership with Sze Fei ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hoon Jian harbours a more distant dream of going to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, United States.
Hon Jian is now counting on forming a stable partnership with Sze Fei after having been previously paired with Man Wei Chong and Chen Tang Jie. – BERNAMA
