PETALING JAYA: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have reaffirmed their stance that players who break rules within the national set-up will be forced to sit out tournaments, and repeat offences could see them dropped from the team.
BAM president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said several disciplinary issues had been identified within the national team and the governing body will no longer tolerate them.
“One of the suggestions we received from the performance committee is to not allow players to compete in tournaments, and this applies to both juniors and seniors,” Tengku Zafrul said after BAM’s council meeting and annual general meeting on Saturday (June 6).
“We don’t want to reveal any names because we want to respect the players’ privacy, but if they don’t compete in tournaments, then perhaps it can be figured out.
“If players still want to break rules, then we may have to drop them.”
Tengku Zafrul also stressed once again that only players who are married will be allowed to move out of the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara.
He said that although most players are fine with the accommodation rules, some brought up reasons why they wanted to commute from home.
“All players who are not married should be residing in the hostel. If they don’t want to do that then they can’t represent BAM.
“The majority of the players are okay with it. Those who are not have given us their reasons.
“But in our view, those explanations are not strong enough unless it’s medically related to caring for parents, so they have to stay.
“Even Lee Chong Wei stayed in the hostel until he got married,” said Tengku Zafrul.
