Shevon Lai
Shevon Lai

Malaysia's independent shuttlers have sacrificed a lot over the years, and they are always ready to represent the country at major events.

Whether they are selected or not, however, is another question.

Mixed doubles player Shevon Lai reiterated that playing top-flight badminton and maintaining a high world ranking while training outside the national setup has never been easy.

"It is difficult, not just financially, but everything else from planning our tournaments and training programmes.

"What keeps us going is the fact that most of us started playing from a young age — some as young as eight.

"This is how long we've sacrificed for our passion.

"Surely, we wouldn't want to just give up like that. We can still play and would like to push as long as we can," said the 28-year-old, who is in Odense with her partner Goh Soon Huat for the Denmark Open this week.

Other independent players, namely Liew Daren, Goh V Shem, Chan Peng Soon, Tan Wee Kiong, Tan Kian Meng, Low Juan Shen, Ong Yew Sin, Teo Ee Yi, Goh Liu Ying and Lai Pei Jing, will remain in Europe for the French Open next week and the Hylo Open on Nov 2-7.

The main goal for these players, at least for this year, is to qualify for the season-ending World Tour Finals in Bali on Dec 1-5.

They have not given up hope on qualifying for the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals next year.

"Of course, these are the tournaments that we would like to play in, but it is not up to us.

"However, what I am certain of is all of us are ready," added Shevon.

The BA of Malaysia (BAM) had left out independent players for the recent Sudirman Cup and the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals.

The team did well to reach the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup, while the Thomas Cup squad achieved their quarter-final target.

The Uber Cup team, however, failed to clear the group stage.