KUALA LUMPUR – Michelle Chai’s resignation as Akademi Badminton Malaysia’s (ABM) chief executive officer yesterday came as a shock to the national badminton fraternity.
Her service to the national setup has not even been half a year, but she was already willing to take full responsibility for the failure of the women’s team in the 2023 SEA Games, on Monday.
Nevertheless, Michelle said, having only served the national setup for five months, she was grateful to the institution and the sport’s national governing body, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), for allowing her the chance to make a positive impact.
“On November 26, 2022, when the BAM council decided to separate the high-performance element from BAM, I was grateful and excited to be given the opportunity to potentially have an impact on one of the most popular sports in Malaysia.
“During these five months, I am proud of the changes that we have implemented, and I continue to believe these will bear fruit in the long run.
“Nonetheless, I understand we are in the business of professional sports where development must go hand-in-hand with on-court results.
“Without any interference and with the clear division of duties and responsibilities between ABM and BAM, I stress again that as the CEO of ABM, I take full accountability and responsibility for the lack of results amongst our players,” she posted on her Twitter account on the same day.
On November 26, the BAM council decided to act as a separate entity from ABM, where the former will solely focus on governance and administration matters, while the latter will be responsible for the national team’s high-performance operations.
Working alongside Michelle was then high-performance director Tim Jones, who was also “relieved of his duties” or in other words, fired yesterday.
The announcement was made by BAM following the “unacceptable” defeat to minnows Philippines in the women’s team event, 0-3, in Phnom Penh.
Meanwhile, in a follow-up with BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh, he said that he wishes to discuss the matter of Michelle’s resignation with the management before making any conclusions.
However, when probed about Jones’s situation, he added that he was not aware of what transpired and declined to comment further.
“Although Michelle has submitted her resignation letter, we will bring this matter to the management to discuss before making a decision.
“I do not know about what happened to Tim Jones, but we will discuss it. I need to gather more information about his dismissal,” he said when contacted. – The Vibes, May 10, 2023
