BAM secretary-general Kenny Goh said the squad, which includes newly-crowned All England men’s singles champion Lee Zii Jia and top men’s pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, has been excluded from the biennial Games to allow them to focus on four major championships this year.

They are Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Thomas and Uber Cups in Denmark, World Championships in Spain and Sudirman Cup in China.

“We’ve forwarded a proposal to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) to send a squad comprising junior players to Hanoi,” he told reporters today.

“This move will motivate the players because it’s a big championship; most badminton greats hail from Southeast Asia.”

The national squad contributed three gold medals at the 2019 Manila SEA Games through Zii Jia, Aaron-Wooi Yik and S. Kisona (women’s singles).