PETALING JAYA: Rosman Razak will keep tinkering with the partnerships of the young women’s doubles shuttlers at his disposal before settling on permanent combinations.
Rosman, who was appointed as women’s doubles head coach in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) last November, has a tough task to find able deputies for top pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah.
The size of his job was laid bare when current national No. 2 Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee failed to win both their matches against Hong Kong and Indonesia in the Asia Mixed Team Championships.
World No. 48 Mei Xing-Pei Kee lost to world No. 13 Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam and world No. 60 Meilysa Trias-Rachel Allesya. Youngsters Cheng Su Hui-Tan Zhing Yi were not fielded in the matches.Rosman acknowledged that he had work ahead of him but stressed that he needed time to develop the youngsters.
“This is not our first team but this is not an excuse. Women’s doubles could not contribute a point,” said Rosman.
“Our plan moving forward is to push many junior pairs. We need to accept the weaknesses in our women’s doubles and look forward to improve the pairs.
He admitted the gap between Pearly-Thinaah and others was huge.
“Everyone knows the gap is too big. This is a long process but I believe in the players I have now. They are trying very hard but give them some time,” he said.
“I’m reshuffling the partnerships to try to get the best combinations. I need to see their performances in tournaments first before deciding on which pairs to maintain.”
The 49-year-old Rosman sees lots of potential in Asian Junior bronze medallists Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting and World Junior silver medallists Dania Sofea Zaidi-Low Zi Yu.
While Xin Yee, Carmen and Dania are training full-time in the senior team, Zi Yu, who only turns 15 in August, trains part-time.
“Dania is still eligible to play in the World and Asian Juniors. All the players are trying to get used to the new training programme and I’m happy with their progress so far. But their level is still far and they need time to develop.”
Xin Yee-Carmen will get an opportunity to prove themselves when they compete in the back-to-back Sri Lanka International Challenge (Feb 25-March 2) and Series (March 3-8).
The others in the fray are Su Hui-Zhing Yi, Amanda Yap-Vannee Gobi, Tan Zhing Hui-Gan Min Yee and Chong Jie Yu-Vanessa Ng.
