KUALA LUMPUR – Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) chief executive officer Michelle Chai hinted at stepping down from her position as chief executive officer following the “unacceptable” loss at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in the women’s team event yesterday.
The team, comprised of young shuttlers, failed to get past the quarterfinals after going down 0-3 to the Philippines.
It was a new low for the squad as they also struck out of the same round in the 2021 edition, held last year in Vietnam, where they lost 1-3 to the host country.
“I apologise on behalf of ABM for what happened yesterday as it was unacceptable, with all due respect to the Philippines. I take full responsibility and accountability and share the pain of the fans feeling the loss. I understand the anger and disappointment.
“We acknowledge our players are young but whoever we sent to represent the country, they are good enough and should have performed their best.
“But we asked ourselves, ‘are we good enough’? If we can no longer have a positive impact on our players, then we need to step aside so others can bring in new ideas.
“I think myself, (high-performance director) Tim Jones, (singles coaching director) Wong Choong Hann, and (doubles coaching director) Rexy Mainaky would have to look at what our roles are and how we can move forward,” she said during a press conference held at ABM in Bukit Kiara here, today.
Michelle also acknowledged that there had been a gap between the players and the coaching team.
Realising that the players are young, she said that should not be the sole reason for their poor performance at the regional event.
“Obviously, there is a gap because our players are young, and they need more help than our senior players.
“Sometimes we hide behind our players because they are still young with no experience, or they never played enough matches, but yesterday showed us that this is not true.
“Some of the Philippines’ players may be older in age but if we look at the matches, their second singles shuttler has not played in a competitive match in the last three years,” she added.
Ahead of the women’s individual event, Michelle shared that she has spoken with the coaches in Cambodia to try and get the players ready for their next match.
“The discussion with the players will happen today, and we will give them some time to take in what has happened.
“Between now and the time they return from SEA Games, we need to identify a different approach and it starts with the four of us standing here and we need to be honest with what we have been doing since we came in,” said Michelle. – The Vibes, May 9, 2023
