PETALING JAYA: Winning the Malaysian Games (Sukma) gold medal was enough to earn Mohd Haziq Najib a trial with the national squad, but not an automatic ticket into the team.
National men’s singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen said Haziq would not be assessed based on just one tournament, with the 21-year-old set to undergo a more thorough evaluation before a decision is made on whether he has what it takes to join the national team.
Haziq impressed at the Selangor Sukma two weeks ago after beating several national men’s singles players on his way to winning the gold medal. He had also tasted success earlier after winning the second leg of the National Under-21 Championships in Kuantan.
Haziq will now undergo a one-week trial at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara beginning next week.
“So he will join us here for a week. We will talk to him. I’ll interview him and find out about his plans, his desire and his goals in life,” said Jonassen.
“Because if the goal is only to go and play big tournaments, then I’m sorry to say that is not a big enough goal.
“You need a bigger desire, where you want to go and what you want to achieve. So we will have that conversation with him. It is not a case of getting one result and coming straight into the squad.
“The results give you the opportunity to come here and join our training. Then we will see over time whether you have what it takes. It was the same with Tan Kean Wei last year. He came here five or six times before he finally received the invitation to join.’’
The one-week trial will therefore be crucial for Haziq to show his commitment in training.
For Jonassen, what a player shows in training can be very different from what happens on match day, and he believes consistent work on the practice court is the foundation for good results in competition.
Jonassen, however, has already been encouraged by what he has seen from Haziq at the Malaysia International Series in Ipoh.
Haziq booked his place in the semi-finals after beating Singapore’s Remus Ng 23-21, 12-21, 21-15 in the quarter-finals yesterday.
