Young smashers: The Under-15, Under-13 and Under-11 winners of Allianz Junior Badminton Championship qualifiers in Taiping this year.
PETALING JAYA: Not all sports in Malaysia require the inclusion of heritage or naturalised athletes to strengthen their national teams, and badminton is one of them.
Badminton legend Datuk Rashid Sidek acknowledged the growing trend among sports associations in Malaysia to recruit athletes of Malaysian descent from abroad to reinforce their line-ups. However, he believes badminton has no need to explore such options, given the country’s long-standing reputation as one of the sport’s global powerhouses.
Rashid remains confident that Malaysia has an abundance of local talent, many of whom have yet to be fully discovered or developed.
In fact, the current national squad features world-class players who have won multiple titles, including medals at the Olympic Games.
As such, he feels it is unnecessary for the national badminton set-up to turn to heritage or naturalised players.
“In my opinion, it’s not relevant for badminton to rely on heritage or naturalised players. We’ve been a badminton powerhouse since the 1950s.
“What matters most is having a strong development programme that can nurture talent to take over from the current batch. If we start depending on heritage or naturalised players, it could demoralise our own players.
“Yes, they may qualify to represent Malaysia, but giving them too much focus might close the door for homegrown athletes.
“For badminton, it’s better to concentrate on our own development system. Other sports may need this route because producing quality athletes is more challenging for them, but for badminton, at this stage, it’s not suitable,” said Rashid.
Currently, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) continue to strengthen their development pipeline while focusing on grooming the current elite squad. The idea of bringing in heritage or naturalised players has never been part of the governing body’s plans.
By contrast, several other sports have actively pursued this path. The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), for instance, have recruited five heritage players from South America, although details of their Malaysian roots have not been publicly disclosed.
They had also naturalised several players, including Guilherme de Paula and Lee Tuck, but both are no longer representing the country.
Malaysia Aquatics (MA) are also exploring options to bring in heritage swimmers to boost the national squad.
Meanwhile, the Malaysia Basketball Association (MABA) have engaged with the Youth and Sports Ministry over plans to enlist naturalised players to strengthen the team ahead of the SEA Games in Thailand later this year.
