PUTRAJAYA − The dispute between the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and Malaysia’s top men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia could affect the focus of the players in the national badminton camp, said BAM national coaching director Wong Choong Hann.
However, Choong Hann stressed that he and the coaching staff at BAM will ensure that the issue does not jeopardise the training of players by focusing fully on the talent-building process.
He said the attention of the coaching staff so far was not transfixed on Zii Jia alone.
“Players may get distracted but we have been given the responsibility to build all the players and when Zii Jia was in our care, he also received our full commitment.
“This does not mean we overlooked others, and it is not as if, only now, we shift our responsibilities or scrutiny to other players... we continue to work as usual,” he told reporters after finishing the Federal Territory chapter of the 2022 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay here today.
On Friday, BAM made a stern decision not to register Zii Jia for any international tournaments for a period of two years starting from January 18 following the 2021 All England champion’s decision to exit BAM and move on as an independent player.
To date, Zii Jia has not made any statements regarding the BAM penalty of a two-year exclusion (Badminton World Federation rules state all entries in international tourneys must go through the national association).
Meanwhile, commenting on talk that Ng Tze Yong would replace Zii Jia as the main men’s singles card, Choong Hann said the Johor-born player should be given more time.
“We do not want to pressure him to reach the level that we want because, understandably, he has a direction, ambition and timeframe to improve. So, we will continue to groom and give him a fair amount of time to improve his performance,” he said. – Bernama, January 23, 2022
