Don’t rock the boat – if it’s just for the sake of making a change

WHEN the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) named the squad for the World Junior Championships, I struggled with some of the names.

Except for Justin Hoh, Fazriq Razif-Wong Vin Sean and spunky Siti Nurshuhaini Azman, I could not place the faces of the others in the list.

No, it has nothing to do with my age, I consoled myself.

These are the latest batch formed and produced during the Covid-19 pandemic, where they had the least amount of exposure and proper training.

They are the batch that had to go through changes under the new leadership of Datuk Misbun Sidek, who took over during the lockdown.

In fact, the Under-19 world junior meet in Santander, Spain was their first big tournament in three years.

None of them made it past the quarter-finals in both the mixed team and individual events.

It’s the worst results for the nation that has produced champions 11 times in individual events and once in the team event (in 2011) since the tournament’s inception in 1992.

Does this batch deserve a bashing? Has Misbun got it all wrong?

If we do go after them, then we are barking up the wrong tree.

It’s unfortunate that these players did not get tournament opportunities as much as they deserved and it’s impossible for Misbun to make changes within three years with all the limitations that he had to go through.

But the fact is that the signs have been there for the past 10 years when the number of Malaysians on the podium have become scarce since the 2012 world junior edition.

Malaysia won the team silver in the 2016 and 2017 editions and most of their members like Lee Zii Jia, Leong Jun Hao, Ng Tze Yong, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin, Chen Tang Jie, Hoo Pang Ron, Man Wei Chong, Soh Wooi Yik, Goh Jin Wei, Pearly Tan, M. Thinaah and Toh Ee Wei – are currently holding the fort in the senior stage – with most of them still battling with inconsistencies.

The burning question is how long will this batch of 2022, rise up to be a force to be reckoned with in the senior ranks?

Will any of them make it?

We’ve to accept the brutal reality that we are lagging far behind in the junior ranks compared to China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand to name a few.

Justin, Fazriq, Vin Sean and Nurshuhaini have lots of catching up to do but they are heading in the right track.

My only hope is that there will not be another revamp or massive changes in the set-up to unsettle the current group.

Misbun and his team need to be given more time to fast-track these players, but obviously, the quality of training and coaching need to be improved.

Changes are good but not to the extent that we keep changing for the sake of changing and end up being even further from the line that we started.

Talking about changes, I foresee another one in Malaysian sports with the GE15 looming in the corner.

Will there be another Sports Minister? I’ve lost count.

Will the Podium Programme be changed again? Will the budget for sports be cut again?

The changes that I hope to see are for our sports foundation and culture to be strengthened; inconsistencies in terms of selection of athletes and leaders to be ironed out; and like everyone else, for better results at the junior and senior levels.