Allianz Junior Badminton Championship ready for a smashing start
GOING into its fourth year, this year’s edition of the Allianz Junior Badminton Championship (AJBC) 2025 will continue to play its role in producing more players who may one day don national colours and win honours.
Allianz Malaysia Berhad (Allianz Malaysia) chief executive officer Sean Wang said that Allianz Malaysia is honoured to play its part in producing quality badminton players who can contribute to the nation in the future.
“For us, badminton is more than just pushing to be the best, it is also about enjoying the game, having fun with friends and a good way to learn about discipline and teamwork,” Wang said
“At this age, some talents may appear now while some players will take time for their game to mature and progress eventually.
“We are cognizant of this fact (different levels of improvements), hence our focus is more on mass participation so that we have a larger pool of players to step up in the future.”
For the record, World Junior Championship 2024 finalist Low Zi Yu clinched her third AJBC title in the Girls’ U-15 title last year. AJBC alumni Dania Sofea was her doubles partner at the World Junior Championship.
Last year, over 3,000 players participated in AJBC and the number of entries are expected to remain the same this year for the 10 Qualifying Rounds.
The opening round will take place in Klang from May 16-18. Qualifying Rounds will be staged in various venues around the country such as Alor Setar, Taiping, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Gelang Patah, Kota Bahru, Bukit Beruang, Bukit Mertajam and Kuantan.
The AJBC Grand Finals, featuring U -13 and U -15 finalists from all the Qualifying Rounds, will take place in Kuala Lumpur from Nov 5–9. Each round will see 24 players qualifying for the finals. The U-11 players will not advance to the AJBC Grand Finals.
As in previous years, players participating in the AJBC Qualifying Rounds do not have to pay any entrance fees. The top three winners in the Qualifying Rounds, for all age categories, will earn RM500, RM300 and RM150 (singles) and RM600, RM400 and RM200 (doubles).
Players finishing in the top three at the Grand Finals will pocket RM1,000, RM600 and RM300 (singles) and RM1,200, RM800 and RM400 (doubles).
Registration for Qualifying Round 1 in Klang will commence from April 23 and, the AJBC tournament is also supported by the Sports, Co-curricular and Arts Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia and the Badminton Association of Malaysia.
For more information and those who are keen to participate in AJBC, please visit www.allianz.com.my/ajbc.
