What about them? They are from overseas but what has actually changed in their training regime ? Just more hours of training and some drills that's about it. I am talking about new/foreign ways of training that Malaysia has never experimented like collaborate with other countries, send them overseas for Danish/European training bootcamp (not sending them to play in Leagues like India league) to improve their mental/physical side or global outlook, or explore different sport science/nutrition areas to improve players' recovery/ability. One thing Malaysia has to start paying attention to is the European gradual progression to develop badminton players. In past, Malaysia can sort of look down on them but now with emergence of sports science and big data, the gap is getting narrower by years/months
https://www.nst.com.my/sports/badminton/2021/12/757402/badminton-investment-not-paying Year in, year out, the media continue to highlight the same sad story of Malaysian badminton. And for 2021, it is no different. They have everything. A state of the art training facility at Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM), a star-studded coaching lineup that would even put the backroom staff of mighty Indonesia or China to shame, a super support service team of physiotherapists, psychologists and masseurs that others can only dream of. Not to mention the millions of ringgit pumped in yearly for development programmes, participation in tournaments and players' allowances, among other expenditure. What do we get in return? Little success but plenty of letdowns. Sure, Lee Zii Jia won the All England early this year, but it did little to erase the bitter taste of disappointment in the other major events that followed. Sadly, 2021 will be remembered as the year that Malaysian badminton hangs its head in shame, after the country has been outshone by its little southern neighbour. Singapore now boast of a world champion in badminton, something Malaysia have failed to achieve over the past six decades. The city-state has now joined an elite club, becoming only the third Southeast Asian country, after Indonesia and Thailand, to produce a world champion in badminton. And we can forget all pretence of Loh Kean Yew being "from" Malaysia, when the manner in which the 24-year-old Penang-born kissed the Singapore flag on his shirt after each victory in Huelva, was a smash to our faces. While I agree with former international Roslin Hashim that Kean Yew's success story is a slap to us, I do not agree that the fault lies entirely with the BA of Malaysia (BAM). While the rot must stop from the top, and heads must roll following our pathetic display on the international front, what about the players and the A-list coaches? Will Zii Jia, who prefers to hold court with radio station interviews and "Instagram Lives", be held accountable for his poor showing and decision-making? Take note that Timesport did report earlier that Malaysia were presented with a once-in-100 years opportunity to end their wait for a world title after several big names, including world No 2 Kento Momota of Japan, China's 2016 Olympic champion Chen Long and Shi Yuqi, and the entire Indonesian national team skipped the World Championships in Huelva due to Covid concerns and injuries. Wong Choong Hann But the Malaysian shuttlers blew it, this once in a lifetime opportunity. But our neighbours Singapore and Thailand never let slip the chance. Thais Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai duly grabbed the world mixed doubles crown. An incident last month exposed the ugly state of affairs in the national badminton camp. Players, who feel entitled, blamed the national body for their failures in qualifying for certain tournaments. While it's easy to point the finger at someone else, when will our players ever take responsibility for their own failures? It's always someone else's fault, not theirs. On top of that, washing your dirty linen in public while the national body try to protect you, only serves to irk badminton fans even more. As a national body, BAM have a huge responsibility to keep everybody in check, but indulging big headed players is not one of them. What about the high-earning coaches? When will they be held accountable? They easily earn five to six times more than many Malaysians, but hide behind their players. And yet permanent residency (PR) status is given to them. Why did Zii Jia play in four back-to-back tournaments, including the "insignificant" Hylo Open in November when it is BAM's policy to not allow players to play in more than two back-to-back tournaments? Who is to be blamed for Zii Jia's back injury and failure to maintain his form? BAM coaching director Wong Choong Hann admitted that it was a mistake to allow Zii Jia to play in the Hylo Open in Saarbrücken, Germany, but who was the one that advised him? Was it one of the coaches who reports to Choong Hann or was it Zii Jia himself? Yes, there were glimpses of hope when the national team reached the Sudirman Cup semi-finals in Vantaa, Finland in October or when women's doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah won the Swiss Open in March, but Malaysia is wounded right now, and badly. Pearly Tan (right) and M. Thinaah won the Swiss Open in March. It's time to do away with the flashy press conferences, announcement of numerous blueprints or award ceremonies for players who are not appreciative of their blessings. As taxpayers, we demand accountability and we demand results, starting with the majors next year. With the arrival of Indonesian badminton legend Rexy Mainaky to assist Choong Hann, there should be no more excuses. For now, swallow that bitter pill and accept that Singapore have a badminton world champion, and all we have are cry babies. As long as this sort of mentality persists, Malaysian sports will head nowhere.
He forgot to mention another important point. Japan men's doubles won their first world championship UNDER THE COACHING of TAN KIM HER. Another slap in the face to Malaysian badminton. " there were glimpses of hope when the national team reached the Sudirman Cup semi-finals in Vantaa, Finland in October " Slightly disagree on the Sudirman take. They did have a good chance of having a good shot at the final against China and capable of upsetting Japan in the semis. What went wrong was the doubles were a let down by Soh Wooi Yik being out of his depth.
There will be another shake up in BAM coaching setup....Rexy to be head coach...choon hann as technical director? Wong tat meng, tan kim her, jeremy gan all doing very well in korea and japan respectively
It would be good to understand the actual process taking place within BAM otherwise it's all a guessing game. Who is the making all the calls in terms of player selection? Who says the yes/no when it's comes to tournament participation? Who is the actual "strategist" behind the scene of Malaysian plan to challenge for titles in major tournaments? I do not think Wong Choong Hann is the one calling most of the shots. Considering all the experience he had as a player and I am very sure he is a very level headed guy so he should have some common sense and critical thinking in his strategy deployment.
https://www.bharian.com.my/sukan/raket/2021/12/903099/bam-tampil-dengan-misi-besar-tahun-depan Pengarah Kejurulatihan BAM, Wong Choong Hann berkata selain Piala Thomas, skuad negara juga akan memberi fokus terhadap persiapan bagi menghadapi Sukan Komanwel Birmingham, Sukan Asia Hangzhou dan Kejohanan Dunia. "Saya percaya dengan barisan pemain yang ada ketika ini, kita mampu membentuk sebuah pasukan yang mantap. Jadi, kita harus cuba untuk mara ke final Piala Thomas," katanya. Pada edisi Piala Thomas 2020 yang hanya diadakan tahun ini selepas ditangguhkan akibat pandemik COVID-19 di Aarhus, Denmark, September lalu, Malaysia mengakhiri cabaran di peringkat suku akhir selepas tewas 0-3 di tangan musuh tradisi, Indonesia. Why set so many targets as part of a wake up call? Focus on the important ones! Thomas Cup - Malaysia has zero chance of winning it because their second/third singles and doubles are weak. Why set this kind of target of reaching the final? Commonwealth/SEA Games - Field the junior/second tier players. The achievements are very MINOR. It matters only to certain management's KPIs ***Asian Games and World Champ - These are the major ones to focus on. Come up with a game plan a select list of players and stop over-stretching the players with many tournament participations.
Wong CH could be the one which Taufik is pointing at on match fixing?? This won't go away, unless someone inside blows the whistle.
It's impossible to be Wong CH because it was held during 2006 Asian Games, Wong CH had his tendon snapped but he was still a player then. Taufik said it's a member of coaching staff.. So it has to be someone that is no longer in Malaysia or no longer coaching the national team. Match fixing is a serious thing and whoever implicated by the whistle blowing should be worried as hell.
It's more of the players themselves. The coach can only do so much. For the top coaches, I don't see much difference between them.
BAM has so much money to spend on developing junior talents scouted from schools, upgrade faciilities, and hire conditioning specialists. I have not seen any initiative taken by BAM management to try and send the players overseas, Europe to study, train and play. They should design a unique or special scholarship programme to identify the best young male and female athlete to be prepped up for study of sports science in some University specialising. The students will benefit from education and also they get a lot of exposure playing overseas while representing Malaysia. It may not be so appealing to the men but the female side, it will be a great programme for students who are above average in their education and they show great potential in badminton. Actually I do not see such thing for other sports too in Malaysia and to some extent Singapore. Look at Joseph Schooling. He is where he is today because of his late father's idea and draw out a career plan for his son. Singapore did almost nothing to Joseph's journey from a normal dude to a professional swimmer.
Another thing that should be addressed seriously is the education quality/standard in the Malaysian sports school which is something BAM should look into. Look and compare Loh Kean Yew or other singaporean players vs the Malaysian players. The difference between them in terms of how they talk, how they carry themselves to the media. It's a big difference. I do not know what it is like for Yeo Jiamin but Loh Kean Yew served his NS, completed his PolyTechnic Uni education but he is well taken care of. I cringe everytime I see a Malaysian player getting interviewed. In big events like All England, World Champ etc, you ought to carry yourself better to promote yourself as well as the sports to a wider audience. Singapore prioritise on developing the athlete to be responsible citizen, well educated and more importantly get them trained up to deliver results. For Malaysian badminton players, BAM and/or the schools care only about them delivering results.
This I agree with and it’s something I have mentioned in the past about badminton in general. It’s not just limited to Malaysian players. Many other players have the same problem. On the other hand, I saw a totally laughable post match interview where the interviewer spoke English really really fast to the player. IIRC , the interviewer was Singaporean and the player was Indonesian. The player was placed totally out of depth which was really an unfair situation. It’s better now with translators. I have seen for a few years at HK Open (not the most recent), the post match interviewer spoke in mandarin to the china players and then “translated” into Cantonese. I was like laughing my head off. One issue that players have to deal with for interviews in English are the variety of regional accents from Singaporean, Indian, danish, French. It’s very difficult for players who haven’t grown up speaking English. For example, the HK players Tang Chun Man and Tse Suet Ying are totally more comfortable using mandarin for interviews and not English. I have never heard them speak any English but contrast that to Tai Tzu Ying, Nozomi, ratchanok. I think men are also less likely to try to use English.
I don't think the problem lies only with the BAM. These are my observations growing up in Malaysia: Professional Athlete Stigma Growing up, being a professional athlete has always been frowned upon. Parents generally want their children to take up stable jobs like Doctors, Lawyers, Finance, Engineering etc. There are so many stories of ex athletes hitting rock bottom (true or not idk) it's discouraging to both the children and athletes. Growing up, one like that was consistently being echoed by the elders were "There is no future being an athlete". Economic and Support Badminton is expensive if you want to get serious. Racquets, Strings, Shuttlecocks, Grips, Shoes, Courts... Now let's say you've gotten past the athlete stigma, and you're OK with your children dabbling in sports. THEN you get hit with the costs associated with training and equipment - how many families will be able to sustain it? The average household size in Malaysia is around 4 (way higher in certain demographics), and when you take the average income into consideration, it just will not work out. Just because of this alone, buds were nipped before they can even show potential. The support system in MY is lacking as well. How many schools have organized badminton programs? Its either you go private ($$$) OR state (limited resources). We don't have the club system to support at the grassroots level. We have to face it, Badminton IS NOT A PRIORITY in the nation. Nutrition and Fitness Proper nutrition vs. Make believe nutrition - It's crazy actually how many people have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to eating right. There are so many parroting what they've heard from unreliable sources about nutrition it drives me nuts. Parents are unknowingly stunting their child's growth. We should really learn to trust science, not "My aunt's friend's sister's brother's uncle's said". On the flipside, some of those who have the knowledge about proper nutrition do not have the means to practice them. Or even worse, a combination of no $$$ + no knowledge = disaster. Throw lack of discipline into the mix and you'll get Malaysian athletes that don't look like athletes. Fun fact: Did you know, amongst the "Badminton Countries other than the UK", Malaysia ranks HIGHEST IN THE PERCENTAGE OF OBESITY IN ADULTS and CHILDREN? There are so many more things I want to write but, I will keep them sealed up for now. Thank you for attending my TED Talk lol.
China players do not give any second thought about the outside world's perception of badminton. In their mind, as long as I appeal to the country fan base, it's enough for me to make millions hypothetically speaking. Lin Dan is quite lucky to be invited to attend international sports award ceremony, walking on the red carpet with other super stars despite him doing very little in terms of media to promote the sports globally. He also has a not so good reputation with all these walk over dramas. Now switch back to Lee Chong Wei, with all his title winning streak and No. 1 position for the longest time, he should at least be recognised and made even more popular to the non-Badminton celebrities. The one reason I feel is his inability to carry himself in interviews. Bear in mind I am not talking about his English, but the same goes for his Malay and Mandarin. When you listen to his words, it does not sound intellectual or deep. It's all street style boorish language. What sort of impression are you giving to the global media ? Malaysia in general should never tolerate this kind of thing and should rectify this. His situation reminds me of Gareth Bale. The footballer has so much money in the world and does not have the initiative to improve his Spanish by taking a 100 dollar per hour private lesson. I would be very ashamed to see BAM only cares about creating disposable players without considering their post-badminton future or plans.
Since you are now living overseas and observe many cultures, you may agree with me on one additional aspect you miss out. It is potentially a problem the way I see. Malaysian's culture of lack of trust and individualism. I do not know about you guys but every time I observe Malaysian players, be it social, intermediate or state level training. I do not notice any sign of teamwork or family close knitted values developed among the players when they are training or sparring. It feels like every one of them is brought up to think only about themselves and personal goals. Now I am not saying these are bad but it is so deeprooted that they do not feel the need to have any teamwork support. This is actually a very important aspect to becoming a great player. Yourself and coaches are important but your sparring partners/teammates are equally important and instrumental to your success too. Without their support and presence to bring the best out of you mentally and physically, you will never get to the top level. To shorten this, a Malaysian player mindset is all about "I playing only for myself and I do not give a sh*t about others because I need to beat all of them locally in order to keep my place" from what I am observing here. Therefore, they not only worry about facing players overseas but also have to deal with the tense/hostility in the camp internally. Now I do not see such culture practice in Europe. In countries like Denmark, Netherlands, and adding Japan now etc, the cultural difference between Malaysia and these countries is very different. I know in China and Indonesia are similar where players must do whatever it takes to stay on stop or else they will lose their place. Perhaps one day Malaysia will create a new batch of players who are modern thinking, forward looking and have a spirit of working together to achieve success. This all start from home and upbringing i suppose.
I think this is a product of Malaysian upbringing and education system. You can speak four languages but since time is split between the four, it's difficult to develop eloquence and deeper meaning in one of them. For example, if you're putonghua educated for primary school, you need to switch to primarily malay based teaching for secondary school. Then there is English on top of that but typical student (let top junior) are not used to expressing themselves in English either for teaching and learning. A lot of development comes from attending university which obviously a lot of players don't have the opportunity for. Definitely you can point to other sports and give good cases of sportspersons who are very articulate. I have a feeling we see the best of the rest and we only see a select few.
