Wong Choong Hann believes the rescheduling of the Tokyo Olympics, now from 23 July to 8 August 2021, will make Lee Zii Jia and men’s doubles duo Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik medal contenders if they work hard enough.
"They will have the caliber to challenge for a medal at the rescheduled Olympics next year. We have a comprehensive programme that is doing well.
"With the right direction, we should see continued progress," said the national coaching director.
The new dates for the Tokyo Olympics was announced by the International Olympic Committee on Monday after they had rescheduled the global spectacle to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The postponement looks to come as a silver lining for Malaysia's elite national shuttlers.
Lee, who just turned 22, did the country proud by reaching the semi-finals of the All-England Championships, which resulted in his climb into the world top 10 rankings.
Chia-Soh, ranked ninth in the world, will also have another year to improve and close the gap on the top three pairings currently dominated by Indonesia and China.
With the Olympics postponed, there are speculations that the qualifying period, originally set to end on April 30, will now be scrapped and shuttlers will have to qualify from scratch.
However, Wong disagreed wholeheartedly on that possibility.
The effort and hard work of the shuttlers who have qualified must be appreciated. I’m sure the world body will come out with a fair and just system. They are still considering all factors, we will just have to wait," he said.
