The Allianz Junior Badminton Championship (AJBC) made its first foray into East Malaysia with a total of 300 players making their presence felt in University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Kota Samarahan recently.
Biggest winner to emerge in Qualifying Round 4, Sarawak was Athan Yang from SMK Chung Hua No.4 Kuching who swept both Singles and Doubles titles in the Boys U-13 category. In the Singles, he met his partner Noel Liew of SMK Bandar Bintulu in the final before combining together to win the Doubles title.
“I first met Noel in 2020 in a tournament in Kuching but from there, we got to become good friends.
“Nobody asked us to play the Doubles together, we just thought of giving it a try and so far, it has been quite a good partnership considering that we do not have a lot of playing time,” said Athan.
Noel chipped in, saying that even though they do not spend a lot of time training together, they seem to have a good understanding of each other’s playing style. For context, both Athan and Noel live 618km apart (Kuching-Bintulu), it will take close to eight hours by road and almost an hour by flight.
Qualifying Round 4 also saw all categories won by different winners for the first time, except for the U-13 Boy Singles and Doubles titles.
The AJBC is back this year with additional Qualifying Rounds in Sabah and Pahang, taking the overall number of locations to 10 this year and is expected to attract more than 2,500 young badminton talents, 500 more than last year.
Supported by the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM), the tournament is ongoing and there will be a three-day qualifying round organised nationwide across 10 locations from July to November, with a four-day Grand Finals scheduled from 16-19 November at Stadium Juara, Bukit Kiara in Kuala Lumpur.
AJBC 2023 Grand Finals singles and doubles winners will pocket RM1,000 and RM1,200, respectively. Winners at all ten Qualifying Rounds will take home RM500 with the doubles champion earning RM600.
Results:
Under 13 (13-year-olds and below)
Boy’s Singles: Athan Yang, SMK Chung Hua No.4 Kuching
Boy’s Doubles: Athan Yang, SMK Chung Hua No.4 Kuching and Noel Liew, SMK Bandar Bintulu
Girl’s Singles: Rosella Tania, SJK Nam Kiew
Girl’s Doubles: Eunice Chong, Chong Hua Middle School No 1 and Qiez Nur Marsyiella, SMK Hajjah Laila Taib Asajaya
Under-15 (14 to 15-year-olds)
Boy’s Singles: Brandon Nathan, Riam Road Secondary School
Boy’s Doubles: Larry Lau and Su Lee Yun, SMK St. Anthony, Sarikei
Girl’s Singles: Law Yee Luo, SMK Chung Hua (CF) Miri
Girl’s Doubles: Chuo Zhi Xuan, SMK Chung Hua No.3 and Nur Aina Batrisyia, SMK Kuching High
AJBC 2023’s qualifying round details are as follows:
| Qualifying Round | Date | 1. Venue | Registration Period |
| 2. 1 | 7 – 9 July 2023 | Tops Arena Empire,
Kuala Lumpur |
16 – 30 June 2023 |
| 3. 2 | 14 – 16 July 2023 | Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Penang |
16 June – 7 July 2023 |
| 4. 3 | 28 – 30 July 2023 | Dewan YMCA,
Ipoh, Perak |
30 June – 21 July 2023 |
| 5. 4 | 4 – 6 August 2023 | UNIMAS, Kota Samarahan,
Sarawak |
14 – 28 July 2023 |
| 6. 5 | 11 – 13 August 2023 | Arena Badminton Juara,
Putatan, Sabah |
21 July – 4 August 2023 |
| 7. 6 | 8 – 10 September 2023 | Dewan KBA,
Alor Setar, Kedah |
18 August –
1 September 2023 |
| 8. 7 | 29 September –
1 October 2023 |
NS Sports,
Iskandar Puteri, Johor |
8 – 22 September 2023 |
| 9. 8 | 6 – 8 October 2023 | Stadium Negeri,
Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu |
15 – 29 September 2023 |
| 10. 9 | 20 – 22 October 2023 | Synergy Sports Centre,
Kuantan, Pahang |
29 September –
13 October 2023 |
| 11. 10 | 3 – 5 November 2023 | NZ Badminton Arena,
Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan |
13 – 27 October 2023 |
