PETALING JAYA: Malaysia are aggressively finding potential top talents in the men’s singles through an ongoing talent identification (TID) programme to ensure they will have quality players in the world stage, including the World Tour Finals.
Painfully, this year, Malaysia will not have any representatives in the men’s singles event in the prestigious Finals from Dec 17-21 in Hangzhou – a contrast to a time when Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei and Lee Zii Jia used to be the main players.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary Datuk Kenny Goh acknowledged the country’s struggles in the men’s singles this year and said that efforts were being made to develop top players in the event.
“This week and next week, BAM are searching for singles players with potential through our talent identification (TID) programme,” said Kenny when met at the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) Memoran-dum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony with Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
“We hope the players that we select not just perform well in junior level but in senior too.”
Kenny also called for patience as singles head coach Kenneth Jonassen had just joined BAM in January and under him, Leong Jun Hao and Justin Hoh have struggled to raise their levels.
Injury issues to both Zii Jia and Ng Tze Yong, who were the country’s top two before this, have also not helped Malaysia’s cause.
“We have a strong tradition of producing top men’s singles players,” said Kenny.
“It has been less than a year though since Kenneth was appointed and he must be given time to execute his plans. We hope he can improve our men’s singles.”
Meanwhile, Kenny, who is also the BAC secretary-general, said the Asian body were set to benefit hugely from the partnership with ABU.
BAC stand to benefit through the promotion of their events and activities on the official ABU platforms which is accessible to all their members.
“On behalf of the Badminton Asia Confederation leadership and all our members, we would like to express our appreciation to the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union,” said Kenny.
