Jack: Success of few top players show clubs can do their part too

PETALING JAYA: There is hope for badminton clubs in Malaysia to play the role as supplier of talents for the country.

Just look at Petaling Badminton Club.

In the recent Taiwan Open, the former club players – Man Wei Chong and Chen Tang Jie – emerged as Taiwan Open champions in different events. Wei Chong lifted the men’s doubles title with Tee Kai Wun while Tang Jie combined superbly with Toh Ee Wei to emerged as the mixed doubles winners.

Wei Chong joined the Petaling BC when he was 13 from Melaka and spent six years before moving to the national team under Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) while Tang Jie was 14 when he joined the club after leaving BJSS.

In fact, world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have spent about three years with the club too. Aaron-Wooi Yik joined Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) when they were 15 and 14 respectively but left to join the club a year later and rejoined BAM when they were 18 and 17 respectively.

The club’s owner Datuk Jack Koh said they were proud to see some of the juniors who grew with the club making waves on the international level.

“When we started the club in 2010, we provided full board and full-time training for the juniors. Fortunately, several main sponsors supported us. It’s satisfying to see some of these juniors doing well at the big stage,” he said.

Jack hopes the success of these players will inspire the other clubs to persevere in churning out players for the national team.

“Clubs can help in the development of the sport. We hope the club system will help nurture the community kids,” he said.

“To have only one big national centralised training centre is not enough, clubs can help do more.

“Clubs can play big roles to expand the talent base at the grassroots level,” added Jack who is hoping to keep discussing with the national body on the commercial value of players to ensure those who transition from club to national level will get the best benefit.