# Chasing Olympic dreams via lower-ranked tournaments
# Jing Yi and company withdrawn from All-England and German Open
Malaysia’s top woman shuttler Tee Jing Yi and top women’s doubles pair Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei will not be playing in the prestigious All-England tournament to be held in Birmingham from March 8-13.
The trio will also skip the German Open in Mulheim from March 1-6.
Instead, Jing Yi and the duo have been slotted to play in lower ranked tournaments to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the Rio Olympics in August this year.
Vivian Hoo-Khe Wei will play in the Swiss Open Grand Prix in Basel (March 15-20) and the Polish Open International Challenge in Warsaw (March 23-26) and the Orleans International in France from March 31-April 3.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) technical director Morten Frost was quoted in local media as saying this is to re-strategise following injuries to Jing Yi and Khe Wei.
Jing Yi pulled out from the recent Badminton Asia Team Championships in Hyderabad in India because of a thigh injury while Khe Wei is nursing a knee injury.
“Taking the injuries into consideration these players will be in a better frame of mind to cope with the expectations of playing in lower ranked tournaments as against the bigger tournaments like the German Open and the All-England,” said the Dane.
Vivian Hoo-Khe Wei played at the recent Thailand Masters in Bangkok and did well to reach the semi-finals.
Currently ranked No 14 in the latest World Badminton Federation (BMWF) ranking list, the pair is also No 12 in the Road to Rio ranking list.
The top 16 in the world will qualify for the Olympic Games.
