BAM hire Sairul as women's singles coach

RAKAN MUDA YONEX SUNRISE MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE 2007 BADMINTON TOURNAMENT MEN'S SINGLES CHAMPION SAIRUL AMAR AYOB IN ACTION DURING THE MEN'S SINGLES FINAL AGAINST MALAYSIA TAN CHUN SEANG WHICH WAS HELD AT KBA HALL AT JALAN SUKA MENANTI, ALOR STAR, KEDAH ON SUNDAY EVENING.(18TH NOV) SAIRUL 21-13 & 21-14.

PETALING JAYA: Former badminton player Sairul Amar Ayob is all excited to work as a national coach for the first time.

On Monday, the 36-year-old Sairul signed a one-year contract with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to be the national women’s singles coach.

He will work together with coach Rony Agustinus. He replaces Wong Tat Meng, who is now handling the men’s singles shuttlers.

Sairul was a singles player under BAM from 1997-2003.

He then joined professional club KLRC before quitting the game in 2009. He won the Dutch Open title in 2006 and was ranked as high as world No. 6 in 2002.

“I don’t have any coaching experience, but I can help the women’s singles players based on my experiences as a player. I’m very excited,” said Sairul.

“As a player, I trained under the late Indra Gunawan and Morten Frost. I learnt a lot from them. I want to be good coaches like them,” he added.

There are currently nine women’s singles players in the team.

They are Tee Jing Yi, Goh Jin Wei, Ho Yen Mei, Soniia Cheah, Lee Ying Ying, Lee Zii Yii, Lim Yin Fun, S. Kisona and M. Thinaah.