KUALA LUMPUR: National shuttlers Ng Tze Yong, Chen Tang Jie, Toh Ee Wei, Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah must start believing and playing like top 10 players in the world.
While men's singles player Tze Yong and women's duo Pearly-Thinaah are ranked outside the world top 10, BAM coaching director, Rexy Mainaky, believes their level of play is on par with those who are.
Last week, Pearly-Thinaah, making a comeback from a prolonged injury layoff, and mixed doubles pair Tang Jie-Ee Wei did well to reach the quarter-finals of the Kumamoto Masters in Japan, while Tze Yong put up a strong fight before going down to eventual champion and world No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, in the second round.
As it stands, world No. 10 Tang Jie-Ee Wei are in the driver's seat to qualify for next month's US$2 million (RM9.35 milion) World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, while Tze Yong needs to reach the final of the China Masters this week, to qualify for the season-ending finale.
Only the top eight players and pairs at the end of the World Tour circuit will qualify for the Finals on Dec 13-17.
Rexy said: "Generally, these players did well at the Kumamoto Masters. Tze Yong is playing well and the two pairs showed good fighting spirit to make the quarter-finals.
"As for the World Tour Finals next month, I agree that Tang Jie-Ee Wei have the best chance of qualifying, while Tze Yong's is very slim.
"What I really want to see from players like Tze Yong, Pearly-Thinaah and Tang Jie-Ee Wei, is for them to start believing and playing like world top 10 players.
"I know not all of them are, but their level is already up there.
"The upcoming China Masters is the last tournament for some of them this year, and I want to see them go all out.
"Pearly-Thinaah may have lost some ground due to the long injury layoff, but we will do some tournament planning for them ahead of the new season.
"The most important thing for all these players is to peak at the right time, and that is at next year's Paris Olympics."
For this week's China Masters in Shenzhen, world No. 15 Tze Yong is up against Lee Zii Jia in the opening round.
World No. 11 Zii Jia will start as favourite, not because of ranking alone, but because the 25-year-old independent shuttler has a perfect (2-0) winning record over Tze Yong in competitions.
In the women's doubles, Pearly-Thinaah will face South Korea's Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong in the opening round, while Tang Jie-Ee Wei play Indonesia's Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari in the mixed doubles first round.
KUMAMOTO MASTERS FINAL: RESULTS — Men's singles: Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Shi Yuqi (Chn) 22-20, 21-17.
Men's doubles: He Ji Ting-Ren Xiang Yu (Chn) bt Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi (Chn) 21-14, 15-21, 21-15.
Women's singles: Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Ina) bt Chen Yu Fei (Chn) 21-12, 21-12.
Women's doubles: Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning (Chn) 12-21, 21-12, 21-17.
Mixed doubles: Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong (Chn) bt Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping (Chn) 25-23, 21-9.
