Malaysia has officially appointed ex-Malaysian badminton stars, 42-year-old Misbun Sidek and 32-year-old Yap Kim Hock as the head coaches for men's singles and men's doubles respectively to replace Indra Gunawan and Park Joo Bong

Quoting the Star 3 Dec, "BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia) is putting faith on the local coaches to guide the players towards glory in the World Championships next year and the ultimate goal of winning a gold in the 2004 Olympics in Athens." However, the more imminent challenge for singles players Wong Choong Hann, Lee Tsuen Seng and Mohd Hafiz Hashim, and doubles pairs Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng and Chang Kim Wai-Hong Chieng Hun is the China Open from Dec 17-22.

Do you think the two local coaches can do better than their foreign counterparts? What are your reasons? Kim Hock's most notable success was when he partnered current women's coach, Cheah Soon Kit, to win the silver in the Atlanta Olympics six years ago.

It's not a case of 'thinking'.

Can they actually do the job is another matter?

Personally, it shouldn't matter where the coach comes from.. I feel BAM is taking on a risk with Yap Kim Hock with a policy of localisation. Afterall, he has had less coaching experience and now straight into a head coach position.

Misbun is different because he has had experience of coaching players to world class level. I just hope for his sake that Wong CH and Lee TS do equally as well as Hazif or better.

If Hazif does better, many people will automatically assume it will be because Misbun concentrates on him for the five letter reason. It seems there are plenty of people just waiting for the opportunity to apportion the wrong reasons.

Agree that Misbun's position seems to be more stable than Kim Hock's as Misbun has proven himself as a successful coach with Nusa Mahsuri Club, a product of which is Hafiz Hashim. Even Wong C H commented that Misbun was "a very dedicated coach" having first worked with him during the joint BAM-Nusa Mashsuri training session before team events like the Thomas Cup in May. The chemistry between them seemed to work before and hopefully can improve during Misbun's tenure.

As for Kim Hock, he will be coaching some younger contemporaries and ex-teammates like senior doubles players Lee Wan Wah, Choong Tan Fook, Chang Kim Wai, Ng Kean Kok and Hong Chien Hun. Most of the players have pledged full-cooperation, commitment and support for Kim Hock, who stressed that he will take a business-like approach to the training and had already warned the players not to dictate terms. Kim Hock has high expectation from his trainees and it is left to be seen whether he is able to carry out his plans and programmes successfully. All eyes will be on him, unfortunately! His first test is the 5-star China Open in Guangzhou from Dec17 - 22.

Will the local head coaches be able to lift Malaysian badminton to a higher level in the next two years?

Hmm........so is Misbun gonna continue coaching kids? Some of my friends train under him. The 2 coaches could do a better job..........then again maybe not. We'll just have to see. :)

The main question will be, will BAM let the coaches work without interference? If senior BAM officials make innane statements and interferes with the coaches' decisions, then the coaches will find it difficult to achieve success.

Ron

It will be another disaster if BAM interferes. Despite having such good foreign coaches in the recent past, Malaysia hasn't really consolidated its position as a giant killer in world badminton, often being eclipsed by China and Indonesia. Despite that my badminton colleagues said that Morten Frost and Park Joo Bong had made valuable contributions in lifting the standards in men's singles and doubles. If foreign coaches could not stomach BAM's policies and practices, I wonder how the local coaches, being so dependent on BAM, unlike their foreign counterparts, will find coaching life under BAM. Anyway, my friends do not think that both Misbun and Kim Hock will make too much impact. I hope they are wrong.