KUALA LUMPUR – The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is looking into the latest medal targets for the country’s badminton camp at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Its president, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the study is being carried out following the withdrawal of national men’s singles professional player Lee Zii Jia from participating in the Games.
“We should look at it as a team. I think they are all eager to continue as Malaysia has a tradition in badminton...at the moment we are looking at two (gold) but we will look at the situation based on the plan for the Commonwealth Games.
“We would discuss further about this and I think that badminton would continue delivering medals to our contingent especially at the Commonwealth Games,” he told reporters after the 6th Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) executive board meeting here today.
On Wednesday, local sports fans were shocked when Zii Jia announced his withdrawal from the multi-sports games in Birmingham, England scheduled from July 28 to August 8.
Zii Jia said he decided to skip the games due to his recent tight schedule and he is determined to give full attention to the Badminton World Championship in Tokyo, Japan, from August 22 to 28.
Meanwhile, commenting on the planning for the men’s singles players which is handled by BAM coaching director, Wong Choong Hann, he said there were calls to produce more calibre players.
“I think Choong Hann and gang are actually producing calibre men’s singles players as soon as possible..we need more men’s singles players so that we could send a formidable team each time,” he said.
In this regard, Mohamad Norza who is also OCM president said the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) meeting will be held from July 11 to 13 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The list of sports to be competed in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia in 2023 would be confirmed in the meeting,“ he said. – Bernama, June 25, 2022
