KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — Instead of waiting for quite some time to perhaps play against top shuttlers from around the world, the national junior players could well have a chance to prove their mettle in the senior tournaments soon.
Academi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) chief executive officer Michelle Chai said the idea was among the suggestions that were brought up by former badminton greats in the inaugural technical advisory panel meeting held yesterday.
Such a move is really important to help the juniors to get a taste of playing at the highest level as that has always been the practice adopted by some other countries, that is to send their young shuttlers to senior tournaments.
"If you are 16 years old here, you are still a junior and play in junior tournaments only, you have to wait to become a senior to play in senior tournaments. So if you see somebody who is talented maybe you can invite him for training sometimes with the senior squad or send them for senior tournaments.
"I'm happy to see that actually, these legends brought up the idea as it validated a little bit of our line of thinking," she said after the meeting.
As such, Chai said she will sit down with ABM head of the junior singles department Datuk Misbun Sidek, and Rexy Mainaky who is the head of the junior doubles department, to further discuss on how they could integrate the idea into their plans.
In the meantime, ABM is also open to the idea of inviting talented junior players that they scouted in local tournaments to come on board and train in ABM, Bukit Kiara, here, during school holidays in a bid to experience the national training environment.
She described yesterday's technical advisory panel meeting as a very refreshing session as it allowed the panel members including the legends to exchange their ideas with ABM especially in finding ways to close the gap between the national players and the world's top shuttlers.
Earlier this month, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) set up a technical advisory panel to improve the performance of the national squad.
The former badminton greats who are part of the BAM’s technical advisory panel comprise Olympian Datuk Lee Chong Wei, former men’s singles players Roslin Hashim and Ong Ewe Hock, former men's doubles pair Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek and Datuk Cheah Soon Kit.
The panel members also include BAM president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria as chairman, BAM Vice presidents Datuk Teoh Teng Chor and Datuk Ng Chin Chai, BAM Secretary-General Datuk Kenny Goh, as well as former National Sports Council (NSC) Director-General Datuk Dr Ramlan Abd Aziz.
— Bernama
