Wasted talents: (From right) Chin Eei Hui, Wong Pei Tty and Rosman Razak’s contracts due at the end of this month have not been extended.
PETALING JAYA: What a sheer waste of talents!
Former international Ong Ewe Hock said the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) decision to release three of their long-serving coaches Rosman Razak (men’s doubles), Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty (both women’s doubles) was a bad call.
The BAM did not extend their contracts which expire end of this month but instead they are now looking for new faces just months before the Olympic Games in Tokyo in August.
Ewe Hock said the BAM could have utilised them in other departments.
“These coaches have a wealth of experience. They could have moved them to the national junior set-up (Academy Badminton Malaysia) where we sorely lack top coaches, ” said Ewe Hock.
“They could’ve even been made heads at different states to revive some of the dead badminton states in the country. Or they could become talent coaches to oversee players from schools all over the country.
“Just look at how China develop their former players into coaches. It’s in their constitution.
“Top athletes get to become coaches after their careers are over. It’s an automatic process, unless the players themselves do not want it. If they do, these shuttlers are absorbed into the national team if there are vacancies, if not, they go straight to the provinces.
“For example, former world champion Sun Jun (1999) was put in charge of Jiangsu province. One of the current players who came through him is 2018 All-England champion Shi Yuqi.
“The 2004 Olympics women’s doubles champion Zhang Biewen (married to Malaysia’s former doubles player Choong Tan Fook since 2010) took charge of Guangzhou after her retirement and there are talents aplenty there.
“I admit that China have a big pool of players and many of them are Olympics or world champions compared to us but they have the right structure and they value local coaches.
“As a player, Rosman may not have won anything big but he has served as a coach for almost two decades while Eei Hui-Pei Tty were once ranked top in the world ranking. Surely after serving for decades, that speaks volume of their abilities.”
When Rosman was assistant coach to Rexy Mainaky, there were good results in the men’s doubles.
And in the last two years as women’s doubles coach, Rosman’s charges have won several titles – Vivian Hoo-Chow Mei Kuan (2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast), Vivian-Yap Cheng Wen (2018 Macau Open), Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean (2019 Indian Masters) and newly formed Pearly Tan Koong Le-M. Thinaah (Malaysia International Satellite).
In Eei Hui’s case, she was even named 2016 Coach of the Year after guiding mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying to the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“BAM have invested so much on them and then they let them go. BAM’s loss will surely be another country’s gain as I’m sure they will be snapped up soon.
“Just look at Jeremy Gan, Lee Wan Wah, Tan Kim Her (Japan); Wong Tat Meng (South Korea); Lim Pek Siah and Yap Kim Hock (Singapore).”
Ewe Hock, who is the owner of Serdang Badminton Club, said he had always wanted to contribute to the nation but never found a place in BAM.
“Maybe I’m not welcomed because I’m critical of the national body. Probably, they want coaches who say yes to everything. I only want the best for the sport, ” he added.
“I do feel that the development of local coaches has been neglected... it does not have to be this way.
“If all local coaching talents are given the due respect, opportunities and good remuneration, we will be producing good players at every level like China, ” added Ewe Hock, who plans to return to his home state Penang to develop the game.
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