ABM’s Michelle resigns, Tim Jones fired

KUALA LUMPUR – Akademi Badminton Malaysia’s (ABM) Tim Jones has been sacked as high-performance director today, announced the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) on their official Twitter account.

The shocking news came just mere hours after the ABM media conference was held earlier, stating their commitment to being fully responsible for the “unacceptable” loss at the 2023 SEA Games in the women’s team event yesterday. 

Chief executive officer Michelle Chai was mentioned to have resigned from the academy.

? Review & Accountability of Performance#BadmintonMalaysia pic.twitter.com/RhvZnFOcmI

— BAM (@BA_Malaysia) May 9, 2023

“ABM can confirm today that in taking full responsibility and accountability for the lack of recent results involving Malaysian players, Michelle Chai has offered and tendered her resignation as chief executive officer.

“We also wish to announce that Timothy John Jones, the high-performance director, has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect,” read the statement.

As reported, the women’s team which comprised of young shuttlers – Tan Zhing Yi, Valeree Siow-Low Yeen Yuan, and Siti Nurshuhaini Azman – failed to get past the quarterfinals after going down 0-3 to minnows 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.

Michelle had hinted about stepping down from her position, saying that she, Jones, and coaching directors Wong Choong Hann and Rexy Mainaky should step aside for others to bring in new ideas, if they can no longer add value to the team.

The squad has been suffering from a string of poor performances, the latest being the Badminton Asia Championships held in Dubai where none of the national players made it past the second round. 

With Michelle quitting from the national setup, it begs the question of whether her position as the Road to Gold (RTG) coordinator, who is assisting Malaysian Football League (MFL) CEO Stuart Ramalingam, would also be affected. – The Vibes, May 9, 2023