KUALA LUMPUR: Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann is of the opinion that our young national shuttlers are lacking in quality compared to those from other countries.
While admitting that the overall performance of BAM shuttlers at the 2019 Malaysian Open Badminton Championships was unsatisfactory, he said the coaches as well as players needed to work harder to close the gap in terms of quality.
“From what I can see, our players lack the ability to make snap decisions during matches. The top players are super-fast in making decisions in going for a shot. Our players easily lose focus when opponents suddenly change their playing style.
“We also need highly efficient players and we have discussed how we are going to look into this area,” he told reporters after the BAM Council meeting at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil here today.
Choong Hann said even the training methods needed to be changed, with players undergoing three sessions instead of two daily and urged the younger players to strive to be more matured in their way of thinking.
“We (coaches) are here to guide and lead them to become better players but, of course, there is always a time frame for that too. We are there to push them to their limits,” he said.
In the Malaysian Open, BAM’s men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia and women’s doubles pairs Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen as well as Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean crashed out in the first round. Men’s doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin as well as Goh Jin Wei (women’s singles) only made it as far as the second round.
Meanwhile, BAM president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria agreed that the coaching panel needed to come up with different training methods to change the youngsters’ style of play for them to be more competitive as well as place more emphasis on instilling a winning mentality in the players.
“Ready or not, the existing players must change and adapt to the different training methods. If they don’t want to accept changes, then their performance will reach a plateau,” he said. – Bernama
