KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Members of Malaysia's badminton squad, which performed poorly at the world championships, could be sacked if they failed to improve at the upcoming Asian Games, an official warned Wednesday. Mohamad Nadzmi Mohamad Salleh, president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), said both players and coaches would be held to account for performances in the December Asian Games in Qatar where it is targeting a gold medal. "We may be making a major decision after the Doha Games. Some of them must go if they cannot perform. We must be accountable for what we have set out to achieve," Mohamad Nadzmi was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency. "Players and coaches must be able to take the responsibility. If you cannot perform, why hang around," he said. The government's National Sports Council berated Malaysia's badminton players on Monday after they delivered just a mixed-doubles bronze medal at the world championships in Madrid. Malaysia had pinned gold medal hopes on top-seeded men's singles player Lee Chong Wei or one of the men's doubles pairs. But Lee was bundled out last week in a quarterfinal shock amidst controversy over line calls, while the doubles pairs also failed to make it past the quarterfinals. Mohamad Nadzmi said he had since spoken to the players, telling them not to blame poor line calls for the defeat. "I told them to stop using such excuses. As national players, they must anticipate all this and know how to handle the situation," he said. "You cannot control the umpires ... I told them that they must learn how to control their emotion and play on. Don't let one bad call affect the entire match. I think they got the message loud and clear," he said. Meanwhile, Qatar, which is hosting the Asian Games this year, plans to bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, a senior Qatari official said on Wednesday. "We want to be one of the candidate cities for the 2016 games. We have expressed our interest and we hope to be accepted," the Qatar National Olympic Committee official told Reuters.
