Lets put some life back to this thread to update on this Malaysian badminton debate. Not to be overly critical on BAM's struggles for achievements, but i see Norza (or next elected/appointed President) has to embrace change to allow independent clubs to produce and develop players at national level. Not just rely on ABM and BAM. At this moment our state ba only bring juniors up to 16yo. After that many drop out due to studies (SPM/O Level) which is an important exam. The pool of hard trained players (up to this point are funded by parents to train in independent clubs) have less impetus to continue to train aggressively like they used to, competing for limited place in the state ba from 12yo to 16yo. So there is this flaw in the system whereby players just naturally dropped-off or performance/interest will wean-off after 16 (particularly the girls).
Those juniors who were selected to ABM on the other hand has more opportunities to meet their national or international ambitions, because they continue to be groomed and have first hand opportunity to play in regional and international tournaments, SEA games, Asian mixed team events and many more. (Compared to independent players). Like it or not all bwf tournaments has to go through the national ba as members of bwf. So here is the critical missing link. The World junior ranking and world junior tournament cut of is 18 years. We have missed out on this because the state grassroot system stops at 16. Only ABM players are selected to rep Malaysia to play as the only monopolistic body. They need independent players to give them stiff competition locally. They are everywhere eg. BJSS, State Sport Schools, purple league clubs, big independent clubs, privately sponsored players etc. That is where i think BAM has to play a more supporting role to open up the pool of players to select from. Similarly to the senior players in BAM although they are already doing it (after sacking them to pave way for the failed Project 24 - resignation of Michelle, Dr Tim & Wong CH) but they have to swallow their pride and get them back in to rep Malaysia national team under the banner of independent team. Now we have RTG programme but yet to be seen if successful or not or just another good to have programme. They may be red faced on past failures but lets not repeat the past mistakes. Learn from it. Learn from other successful countries. Learn to embrace change. Comments welcome.
ABM must have followed a China style model taking in trainees in at 13years old with the intent of creating more world class players. However , it’s not been that successful. I just been told that they have changed to 15 year old and letting the players develop more in clubs or state. A lot of change can happen in two year of adolescence. Late developers come in, early talent stay static or prefer to concentrate on studies. The number of girls playing is much smaller so in fact, if you want to a road to success, trying to increase the pool of girls playing from a young age and supporting them through the years of development may be a good way for the country to invest funds bearing in mind girls need a slightly different type of mentorship compared to boys. A gold medal for a mixed double pair in the Olympics is the same value for the country as men’s singles or doubles - yes or no?
Different. Chia/Soh are World Champions but not given the recognition. Imagine if LCW had won the World Championship.
Men singles Olympic gold is the ultimate prize and bragging rights... as it goes down the annals of history in perpetuity never to be forgotten for generations to come. For me in Olympic, Gold in any other category is as good. Ill take it.
