KUALA LUMPUR − The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will restructure its line-up of coaching staff and players as early as next week, says its president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria.
He said the shake-up was necessary following the erratic performance of the national badminton squad in the last nine tournaments, starting with the Sudirman Cup in Vantaa, Finland, in September.
“You will see the announcement made by the coaching and training (C&T) committee chairman Datuk Kenny Goh in due course − soon after he chairs a C&T meeting, including a performance review of 2021 − next week. So, wait for the next news from us,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
Norza had earlier welcomed the Prime Minister’s wife Datin Seri Muhaini Zainal Abidin, who is also the new patron of BAM, to Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara.
On the pressure from certain quarters urging him to resign following the disappointing performances in the last nine tournaments, Norza vowed to continue leading BAM as long as he had the trust of his committee members.
“I will remain here as long as my council wants me to be here… we actually have progressed, it’s just that people can’t wait for the players to improve but I believe we will improve ourselves,” said the BAM president, who was re-elected to the post for a second term from 2021-2025 in April this year.
On the general performance of the players this year, he said BAM had sent a line-up of young players after a shake-up, which saw some previous players in the squad turn professional.
However, he said that strategy did not have the desired impact as the young players struggled with consistency, which made it difficult for them to achieve success.
Meanwhile, Norza, who is also president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, said the main focus of BAM next year was to bring in new talent to compete at the highest-level tournaments.
He said among the players with potential were three junior men’s singles players − Ng Tze Yong, Aidil Sholeh and Leong Jun Hao; young men’s doubles pair Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Mohd Haikal Nazri as well as five women’s singles players, who were promoted to the senior squad in October, including Joanne Ng and Siti Nurshuhaini Azman.
In the meantime, he said BAM would send an elite squad to take on Malaysia’s challenge at the 2022 Thomas and Uber Cup in Bangkok as well as the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom and the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, while a back-up team would be given the opportunity to represent the country at the SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam. – Bernama, December 24, 2021
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