Finally, I got them translated. It was a painful job and I couldn't find the extra motivation to proof read my translation. I hope the translation is legible. The following is a series of articles published in China Press. The articles talks about Malaysian badminton where no promising young players are coming up the rank to take over the baton from Lee chong Wei, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong. They have a total of seven articles, I managed to translate six of them. The last article is just a summary of the previous six articles so I didn't bother to translate it. This is the best translation I can do as I am not a trained linguist. Original series name: 脫落了．羽毛 (The fallen feathers) I hope you enjoy reading this. Yes, limsy I know I am wasting my time and BAM management will remain as a failure regardless of what I do. I am just translating for sake of all the badminton lovers out there who cares about Malaysian badminton. However, this might be my very last contribution to translate any article which is remotely related to BAM as I am totally disgusted by that organization. Please ignore the personal emotion and read on.
Fallen feathers; who’s the next in line for Malaysian badminton? Malaysian badminton- A horrifying gap between elites and younger players At the current moment, there isn’t any sign of the emergence of good talents among the younger batch of players. The best solution for this situation is to prolong the career of elite players, so that Malaysian badminton will get into the crisis of having capable players to take over the baton from the elite players. Once a national coach of BAM, Han Jian, pointed out that the lack of Malaysian talents rising up to the senior ranks, especially in the MS department, is worrying. The only one and feasible solution is to prolong Lee Chong Wei’s career. Established players go a long way Han Jian : “Single is different from the other event, because the players are on their own in the tournament. As such, it’s very demanding to be a good single player, this includes good footwork, movement speed, endurance and specialized training regimes. As a result, if a player does not have a solid foundation in skill and techniques, this will greatly impede their progress later on.” “A lot of time is needed to polish all the fine details of the techniques and skills mentioned above. Normally it will take at least 5 to 7 years for a talented player to learn all these skills. This explains why it is rare to find good single player these days.” Taking short-cuts when training Han Jian emphasized that although it is very hard to develop single players, but these single players will go a long way in their career once they are established. At the moment, Peter Gade and Wong Choong Hann are very good example which can testify this fact. Although they are already branded as “old men” on court but they are still capable of winning matches in international tournaments. Han Jian was once a player who is famous for his ability to play long rallies. He expressed his opinions to the reporters of China Press in a recent interview. Han Jian feels that the current training methods emphasize too much on getting short terms results. Most of the time, these players do not have a good grasp on the basic skills and they struggle to produce results. This is also why a lot of younger players still cannot challenge Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan up until now. “I have seen Wong Choong Hann and Peter Gade’s matches a lot of time. Though their younger opponents are very aggressive, but those young lads could not match them in a lot of department, especially in racket techniques. As a result, these young players find it hard to beat the veterans; single game is not just about stamina and power play.” From the just concluded World Championship, it is apparent that Malaysians badminton is facing a crisis in which no capable young players could take over the baton from senior squads. Han Jian gave his personal thoughts on what could possibly be the root causes of this crisis. The Characteristics of Single Player: Compete and develop at the same time. Han Jian said: “Judging on current trend, I could not see a reason why Lee Chong Wei cannot continue for another few years. Based on Lee Chong Wei’s playing style and techniques, I don’t think that there will be players emerging from the younger batch who are capable of threatening him in 3 to 5 years time.” “This is the characteristic of single players: your career goes a long way once you are established. This is especially so when you have a Lee Chong Wei whose basic skills and techniques are solid nowadays. He can play for another couple of years and decide whether to call it a day by that time. ” Han Jian also pointed out that the current training regimes emphasize too much on seeing short term results. Whether BAM’s management is willing to chip in more time and money to develop new talents is a whole new issue all together. Ultimately, they have the same thinking as the fans, which is to use the selected few outstanding players to fight for the honour of the country, and doing what they can to maintain the current status quo.” Han Jian said is not easy to find a good player because you cannot judge a player’s talent based on intuition alone. It takes a lot of selection process and development programme to discover a good player. Not many people are keen on investing that much for talents discovery. Get rid of favouritism –BAM to accommodate others Han Jian feels that a workable system needs to be in place in order to effectively develop the talents in the long run. Unless BAM could come out with a plan with long term vision, we could pretty much predict the future of Malaysian badminton if things remain as status quo. “The so called revamp of the current system includes: BAM should put more attention in juniors and grass root levels and npt just on the elite levels alone. They need to come out will a sustainable plan to develop all the younger talents step by step.” Han Jian think that BAM should treat every Malaysian player equally and not playing the petty politics of favouritism. Han Jian feels that independent players should be allowed to represent the nation. At the moment, more and more industry and sponsors are willing to sponsor players. If those independent players have the capability, why don’t BAM give them a chance to play for Malaysia? A more transparent selection process He pointed out that, selection should be based entirely on merit. Just take an example on the just concluded World Championship, why the players who have the higher rankings are drop from the list? Isn’t this being bias towards players in your own stable? This is simply no credibility in this sort of selection. Han Jian said that only player with the skills can win a tournament. If a higher ranked player is not selected, it will greatly affect the players’ morale ad thoughts. How does it help the development of local badminton scene if BAM select a player without any outstanding result to play for the country? “Not to mention that those independent players have their own private sponsors, who play an important role in developing badminton in the future. No doubt BAM’s monopolization will only make them think twice about investing more in developing the Malaysian badminton in the future. BAM should get rid of favouritism if they want more players to represent the country in the future. ” Conclusions from Han Jian’s interview: Prolong Lee Chong Wei’s career Abolish favouritism, select players on merit Revamp the training programme Distribute the funding evenly and not placing all on the elite team. Source: http://www.chinapress.com.my/node/244798
2. Kwan Yoke Meng-No a single talent among 10,000 players? Chong Wei and Lin Dan’s standard are way too high After the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] World Championships in London, it’s time to sit down and ponder about Malaysian badminton lack of talents rising up to the rank. Although it is disappointing for Chong Wei to miss out on the chance to become the first World Champion in Malaysia, but it is more saddening for Malaysia not to have any player ready to take over from Lee Chong Wei’s career. The China Press will look at the problem on Malaysia’s lack of talents in the badminton scene from another perspective in this series of “Fallen feathers; who’s the next in line for Malaysian badminton?” Although Malaysia is a badminton powerhouse (translator: What a joke of the millennium.), Malaysia always come out short in Major tournaments. Other than Thomas cup, All England and Asia Games, Malaysia has never won an Olympic and World Championship gold medal. Lee Chong Wei is already 29 years old. Perhaps he can still play for the 2012 Olympic game and 2013 World Championship. But what is going to happen after that? Lacking in players to take over the baton ever since seven years ago Who is the one who can play for Malaysia after Lee Chong Wei’s retirement? A former Thomas Cupper in 1992 and the ex-national coach, Kuan Yoke Meng, is very close to the players and coaches in the national team. He watched the dream final between Lee and Lin at the final of World Championship 2011. The 45 years old expressed his personal views after his interview with China Press. Yoke Meng: “In my opinion, Chong Wei’s personal character makes him lose the match. Chong Wei is a perfectionist, if Chong Wei could play some trick shots when Lin Dan was closing the gap and slow Lin Dan down, maybe the outcome will be different.” Yoke Meng admitted the younger players lack in mental strength, which is also one of the factors why there isn’t any one raising up in the rank yet in Malaysian badminton. Yoke Meng will explain how character and attitude problem could cause Malaysia to face the crisis of not finding any younger player to raise up the rank. State Badminton Associations to carry out their responsibilities Kuan Yoke Meng said that the problem of lack in talents have already been around since seven years. “However, almost all the countries across the world is facing the same kind of problem. Denmark’s Peter Gade is 35 years old and he is still playing. Who’s the next in line for Denmark? Indonesia is also facing the problem of not being able to find a good replacement for Taufik Hidayat. It is just that Malaysia’s situation is worse compared to these countries” Kuan Yoke Meng :” Maybe the standard of Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan is way too high, which makes it impossible to find someone to take over from them”. BAM has been searching for solutions for years ever since they came across this problem but they could not fix it: “They only started to put in more efforts 1-2 years ago, trying hard to find more talents across the state BAs.” Kuan Yoke Meng continued: “Actually BAM should have started the talent searching programme much earlier. They should have find and train players ever since they were young.” “Think about it, is it hard to find a talented player out of 1000 or 10,000 players from each age group who can play in Uber or Thomas Cup?” He continued: “Every state badminton association gets funding now, and they should have carry out their responsibilities. But only several state Bas have performed to requirement. The other state Bas have the funding, but they do not have professional coaches. As a result, the players from these states find it hard to have a systematic training.” Continue to be humble and strive for better. Chong Wei is good, but he needs to be better Kuan Yoke Meng take Lee Chong Wei as an example: “Chong Wei is a humble player, he knows he has a lot to improve. This is why he pays a lot of attention to what every single coach has to say and learn more techniques from them.” Speaking about coaches, Kuan Yoke Meng said: “ In my opinion, the coaches need to improve themselves as well. You should not just be contend with what you have. Every coach should have their own style of coaching, but they should also catch up to the latest tactics and metagame, research on the current play style and tactics and keep improving their knowledge. You can only become a good coach through that way.” Players and coaches should communicate frequently : “I feel that the current players do not interact much with their coaches. Sometimes the coaches wanted their players to play their way, but the players could not cope and struggle to produce results in the end.” Hendrawan, Kim Her and Cheh Chang have capabilities Kuan Yoke Meng is grateful that out national team still have the service of Hendrawan, Tan Kim Her and Pang Cheh Chang :”They are good coaches, Thank god that national team still have them.” Lastly Yoke Meng said the most important thing to a successful player: “Perhaps you guys feel that Chong Wei lost out in skills or luck, but a successful player usually lose out on some fine details. These fine details could be personal character, it is very hard to notice it and change it. Chong Wei’s on court behavior make him restricted him when playing Lin Dan. Chong Wei wants to win on perfect note. Actually he could refuse to change shuttle when Lin Dan wanna change shuttles and affect his mental state but Chong Wei did not. Chong Wei wants win it perfectly. However, it is Chong Wei’s humble and willing to learn from others attitude which see him becoming one of the best players in the world!” Attitude decide everything Coach can be a teacher too Kuan Yoke Meng said, coaches’ attitude is also an important in nurturing players. He added that, coach’s responsibilities are not just teaching techniques to their chargers, the coaches should also instill some morale principles, philosophy to their players. “To be successful players, other than having a superior technique, they also need to have the right attitude and living style to be the real World no.1.” Humble when it comes to learning He said, some players become arrogant once they become famous and started to be disrespectful to their coach.: “These players need to know that it is difficult to bring your game to a whole new level. Once you produced results, you need to keep a low profile, try to learn how to maintain your form and keep improving your game. You cannot afford to allow your game to stay stagnant.” Conclusions from Kuan Yoke Meng’s interview: State BAs’ attitude-They got the funding and need to work harder to provide new talents for the nation Coaches’ attitude- Need to constantly improving themselves in polishing their technique and pass on their philosophy to their players. Communicate with their charges frequently. Players’ attitude- Need to be humble and express their thoughts to their coaches. Source: http://www.chinapress.com.my/node/244994
3. Malaysian fans be prepared, there won’t any outstanding young player for another 5 years. A makeover “from head to toe”-A big project After the China Press has spoken to many BAM officers who wish to remain anonymous, the press has now decided to reveal how the organization works and how this organization developed its talents in the past. Currently, a top ranked BAM officer from the management team warned Malaysians that there will be at least a 5 years period of ‘nothingness’ or ‘vacuum state’ after Lee chong Wei’s retirement. This is because there isn’t a promising young player who can perform up to mark up to this date. Once the World No.1 retired, the future is bleak. The officer admits that the problem have been there for many years. The system needs a total revamp, a total makeover from “head to toe”. Although the current management want to revamp the system because they know this problem have been left in the dark for far too long. They are aware that of there is no complete revamp of the current system, the possibility of the emergence of Lee Chong Wei no.2 is pretty low. Analogy: Miss Malaysia might not be the prettiest. Coaching committee to cast their net to catch the fish. The senior officer continued, there are many ways to select players into the national team, the easiest way is to hold a national competition every year and select the champions into the Bukit Jalil Sport School. “There is an anology which goes: the so called Miss Malaysia is not necessary the prettiest woman in Malaysia. To ensure that we don’t miss out on recruiting potential talents, BAM will also accept potential players which are recommended by each state BA. The Bukit Jalil Sport School Coaches will then decide whether these players can be absorbed into the squad. Of course, BAM will also send out talent scouts from time to time. Once those scouts indentify potential players, they will bring these players to a suitable training centre. ” However, this selection system has been in place for over ten years and the situation did not improve by much. He pointed out that this batch of players, including those studying in Bukit Jalil Sport School, did not further improve themselves. As a result, finding a replacement for the World no 1 soon is almost a mission impossible.” Frequent change of coach He pointed out that, many players who have been selected into the sport school need to display their extraordinary ability to adapt to the surrounding. This is because these players need to juggle between study and the possibility of changing coach once a year.” He also know that once a player has adapt to the training of a particular coach, they need to readapt to the new training method by new coach again by next year. This could be one of the issue which hamper the growth of the younger players. “A lot of people questioned that Malaysia has a lot of players performing well in the junior circuit (AJC, WJC) but they stop performing one they enter the senior squad. This could be caused by over training during their junior years. Some players carry injuries but they are unaware of it. The injury aggravated during their senior years , which cause them unable to drop out from the squad.” Accept players from private clubs: Expanding the incoming talents pool As an officer of BAM for many years, he is also worry about the current state of Malaysians badminton. He agrees that BAM should abolish favouritism and accept the players from private clubs to improve the situation where there is a lack of talents coming up the ranks. He said that there are many local companies which are willing to sponsor players; he doesn’t understand why a good player cannot get a chance to perform at the bigger stage. This will only give the sponsor a positive signal, and also let foreign countries know that are still many capable players in Malaysia(Translator note: Either my Chinese sucks or the reporter sucks. Yes this is how it was written in Chinese and I don’t think it makes sense.). Taking Tan Bin Sheng and Gan Teik Chai’s case as example, if they got a good result in World championship, BAM could still be proud of that as BAM was involve in their training programme years ago. However, the current BAM took away their right to participate, which will stop the sponsors from financing the badminton players. More opportunity to participate When China Press enquire about thelack of talents in local badminton fraternity, he said that many countries are facing the same problem. He said that, China can’t even find a second Lin Dan. Indonesia is in an even worse state. However, these countries are actively encouraging the establishment of private clubs in their systems. These clubs are sponsored by rich private companies which give their players a lot of opportunity to participate in international tournaments. The players will only improve under such system. If Malaysia is still sticking to the old system and discourage private sponsors from financing badminton players, he did not dare to imagine about the consequences. He added that Malaysian badminton have had its bad times in the past before. If BAM did not revamp their system, the situation where Malaysia has no player coming up the rank will come eventually. So, Malaysian fans better be prepared. Ways to get into Bukit Jalil Sport School: Selection from the yearly national competition. Recommendation from State BAs Talent scouting. Source: http://cnews.cari.com.my/news.php?id=114558
4. Sieh Kok Chi:3 ways to bridge the gap-more funding to states, work hard on training ,scouting talents As a long time follower of the sport, the secretary of Malaysia Olympic Council, Dato’ Sieh Kok Chi said that it is not just badminton is facing the problem of a lack of talents coming up the ranks, a lot of other sport events are facing the exact problem. The most important thing is to tackle the problem in a systematic way, so that the problem could be solved before it gets worse. Only through putting lots of effort in training the juniors and youth, having a more systematic way of funding all the state BAs and absorbing more talents through various ways will make this country go far in finding young future talents for the sport. Sieh Kok Chi believes that Malaysia still has a lot of badminton talents, because you could still find a lot of passionate young players playing in clubs across Malaysia. It only comes down to how a nation polish this group of talents. A realistic way to benefit the players Having involve in the sport for more than a few decades, Dato’ Sieh Kok Chi wished to offer his opinions to the BAM as an outsider. He certainly wishes that badminton, which is now a strong contender to bring back a gold medal for Malaysia in the London Olympics, would not be sidelined for the 2016 Olympic game. He said that badminton is a popular sport in Malaysia and is also the main event which could possibly bring gold to Malaysia. He hopes that BAM management could understand the importance of perpetual development and fix the issue of lack of talents while it is still not too late. Sieh said that there are still a lot of Malaysians who are passionate about badminton. It is just that those talented ones are not being nurtured to be good players. If the state BAs and BAM could put in more effort in their work, badminton will still be a strong contender for Olympic medals in the future. “I am happy to read that BAM has decided to draft up more development programme in every state across the nation in a recently published news article. This will only benefits the junior players.” He feels that BAM should not make too much fuss about the lack of funding at this critical moment and restricted the number of tournaments the players could participate oversea. He thinks that a player need a lot of exposure to international tournaments in order to become better. “I am aware that BAM has just landed a big sponsorship deal from a sponsor. As such they should locate more funding on the players and use a more realistic way to benefit the players, especially the junior/backup players and the state BAs, because this is where BAM is going to get their talents from.” BAM should not be biased BAM has just announced that they will hold a state level development programme this coming October. From this programme, they will fork out another RM 1.6 million on top of the original yearly funding to finance the state BAs in developing the grass root levels. This is so that more talents could be nurtured in the future and the working camp held from 23 to 25 September. Sieh Kok Chi also advised BAM that they should give equal opportunity to the independent players when it comes to the opportunity to represent Malaysia in big events. BAM need not concern about whether these players are still under the stable of BAM because national interest will always override the interest of a particular sport organization. He said that BAM should make national interest the top priority. More and more private clubs and private sponsored players are emerging recently. These players will eventually be better than those that are under the BAM stable. If this happened in the future, BAM should select the players based on merit and make national interest the top priority. Prioritize national interest “Any player, regardless of whether they are from state BAs or private clubs or even private sponsor players. Once they are out to play international tournament, they will be representing Malaysia. This is a fact and if they achieved good results along the way, it can only benefit Malaysia.” Sieh took England football as an example. There are a lot of clubs in English Premier League and those clubs are independent from their national FA. However, when the country needs the players, these players will play for the country. There is absolutely no conflict when it comes to representing a nation. Not to mention that the private industries are willing to invest in the sport, this can only be a good thing. BAM should not be stubborn. They could have paid more attention to players from other place and have a wider vision on how to develop the sport. Parents calling China Press.“Sport School should be looked at” The fallen feathers article series have prompt some parents to give their response to the press. The parents told the press that the coaching system, coaching quality and working attitude should be looked into. Their child is currently studying at the Bukit Jalil Sport School and they will prefer to remain anonymous in order to protect their child. The parents think that there is also problems that need to be address outside of the national team. The parent said that some of the coaches do not carry out their responsibilities in the sport school. Besides, the parents disagree with the claim of BAM officer stating that juniors players cannot perform due to over training and unaware of their injury etc. “My opinion is the opposite, those young players are not over-trained. In fact, they have not been training enough just like what Han Jian said and the players do not have a solid foundation in skill and techniques. This is also the reason the younger players tend to injure, because they have been using the wrong technique, perhaps a professional can verify this issue.” The parent said that the coaches from China are very dedicated and responsible. However, the other coaches’ attitude is terrible. One of the coach even miss classes for 2 months which greatly hamper the progress of his/her charges as these young lads did not get a very good supervision. Sieh Kok Chi’s suggestions: Use the funding wise, send players to more international tournaments. More funding for state BAs, improve the training programme Scout talents in various ways Put national interest as top priority http://cnews.cari.com.my/news.php?id=115237
5. Good coach, good facility, good training regimes. Chan Peng Soon: The ball is on the player’s court Malaysian badminton faces the problem of lack in upcoming talents. Most of the people think that the problem lies with BAM, the system and the lack of coaches. What is the take of players on this? Other than the problem of lack of talents in MS department, Malaysian MD department also faces the same problem. Zakry and Fairuzizuan has left the BAM stable and this has left no one ready to take over the no. 2 MD seed in the country. Disregarding WS and WD, the emergence of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying has surprisingly fill in the long time void in the XD department. Chan Peng soon join the BAM when he was just 18 years of age and has been serving the national team for 5 years. He considered himself as a senior now. Chan Peng Soon: “We have good coaches, good facility and good training regimes. The deciding factor comes from the players themselves.” Willing to set target Chan Peng Soon said in his interview with China Press: “There are more and more tournaments these days, so the players got plenty of opportunities to play. Some of the players could not produce results, maybe the problem lies with themselves, the lack of self confidence could be the root cause of the problem.” The huge gap between Chong Wei and the backup players is one of the reasons behind the lack of talents in MS department. Players need to believe in themselves Regarding about this, Peng Soon has his own opinion: “That are very few players who want to set their target to achieve what Chong Wei has achieved. In fact, most of them do not even dare to challenge Chong Wei. As a player, it is utmost important to have your own target and dream. Through this, you will keep pushing yourself and not remain stagnant.” “Some of the players do not believe in themselves. As an example, if your weapon is smash and you failed to kill the shuttle once, you will start to have doubt in your own ability. You will lost your most lethal weapon in the end. When you believe in yourself and continue striving for better, only then you will reach a greater height.” Chong Wei is the most dedicated among all. Players need to work on their attitude. Peng Soon sighed: “Actually we have some very good junior players, they are capable of winning tournaments but they remain stagnant once they got promoted to senior squad. Maybe training regimes is one of the problem which hinder their progress.” In china, they have a lot of quality players like Bao chunLai and Chen Jin to help their teammates to be better. Unlike China, Malaysia only has one LeeChong Wei. There is a lack of high quality sparring partners in Malaysia and the junior players couldn’t quite get the quality training they desperately needed.” When Peng Soon was asked whether Malaysia has a good talent pool, Peng Song said: “Malaysia and China are different, China can get many talents easily. However you cannot say that there is no talents in Malaysia. The players from China have a very different body structure compared to us. They are strong and fast but you could not say that Malaysia does not have talents based entirely on this.” “Talents need to be nurtured, you need to have talent scouts to discover the talents. If the talented players are not properly trained, all their talents will go to waste.” Tan Bin shen: Finding in the void, there’s hope for independence players Bin Shen who have left BAM years ago thinks that, the gap between chong Wei and the backup players are too big. Bin Shen: “Some of the players might feel disheartened by this, but I do see players who have the potential, they only lack in experience.” Bin Shen: “The young players should not feel dejected because they could not catch up to Lee Chong Wei. The young players could lower down their experctations, so that they onlt aim for quarter final in one tournament and gradually set the bar higher. Maybe they feel better this way.” Going indepenedence is also another way of solving the lack of talents: “There are more and more players who are willing to become independent players these days. They feel that they could not perform in national team. Perhaps changing the environment will give them another option.” Bin shen :”A player reach a critical stage when they are 25 years old, if that player cannot perform by then, they should consider another way out and let the BAM to have more resources to groom the upcoming players.” Motivate each other Train the MD backup and elite players together. Currently, only Koo Kien Keat, tan Boon Heong and Woon Thien How have the capability to compete, others are just backup. This situation did not only affect the tournament results, it also reflects the lack of quality training partners during training.” Peng Soon : “I proposed to integrate Kim Her’s charges so that they can train with the elite MD players. This is because the backup players have more fire and motivation and could keep pressure on the elite team. The senior will need to improve in order to stay top on their game while the backup can learn a thing or two from their seniors. It is a win win situation and a way to prevent MD from not having up and coming players in the future.” Back to his profession XD, Peng Soon said that XD is pretty much a side character in BAM and there have not been any players coming up the ranks for a long long time. When Peng Soon and Liu Ying became the first Asian badminton championship XD winner of Malaysia, XD started to make a turn in Malaysia. But who are the next in line after Peng soon and Liu Ying? Peng soon said: “Actually we have a couple of potential juniors in the squad, like Tan Aik Quan and Lai Pei Jing. Aik Quan was specialized in single while Pei Jing was supposed to play WD, but they put a lot of effort in training for XD event. This is why I think they will go far and there is a lot of room for them to improve.” http://chinese.cari.com.my/news/news.php?id=116034
6. Fans disagree that there is a lack of talents in Malaysian badminton. Everyone needs to be treated equally. This article will discuss the problem from the point of views of fans Is there a lack of young and coming players in Malaysian badminton? Some of the local badminton dealer in Malaysia commend from the perspective of a fan and they think that if Malaysia wants to solve the lack of talents problem, they need to pay more attention to their younger players and treat them equally and fairly. These young players need to be send to more tournaments, especially the satellite series tournaments. The young players need to build their ranking and confidence from smaller tournaments and this will solve the problem when these players matured. Lim: Restriction brings further frustration Apacs Sport Ltd manager Mr Lim says that the system needs a revamp and the newly formed system needs to treat all players equally. Lim mentioned that every player trains hard in order to be able to get into BAM. Players will only get selected into the national team only if they were good enough. So that must be a reason why they couldn’t produce any results. It is important that BAM has a fair system for their players. Lim said that players train hard to get opportunity to play in tournament. It is through tournament participation that players realize what they need to improve on. If BAM keep restricting their chance to participate in oversea tournament, this will only frustrate the players. He thinks that this needs to be done in a systematically way so that every player get a fair chance. They also need to avoid putting all eggs into one basket and just develop a player who they think have the potential to go far. The CEO of FLEET SPORTS MARKETING told China Press that, as a fan, he thinks that there are still a lot of good players in Malaysia. However, due to lack of resources and uneven fund distribution, some players can only train everyday but do not get a chance to play tournament. “Judging from current situation, BAM should send more players to international tournament. The weaker players can play in satellite and international challenge tounrmanets to rake up ranking points. After they have the ranking, they can start playing higher level tournaments and getting seeded at the same time. This will help them to produce better results.” He thinks that BAM’s system needs a revamp, judging on more and more industries are willing to invest in badminton, BAM needs to explore the option of sending players from other organization to play for the countries. More from fans Too much emphasis on elite temas 黃美珍(25 years old, teacher) Placing too much emphasis on the elites are one of the reasons why there is a lack of young talents coming up the ranks. Although the junior players went through systematic training but they don’t get much opportunity to play in international tournament. Most of the players perform on national circuit but could not produce results when they join the backup team. Too big a gap between elites and backup players 阮湧和（25years old、student） Although it is not healthy to depend solely on Lee Chong Wei, but the standard of backup players are far below those who are ranked top 10 in the world. Not to mention that these backup players only do well in national circuit but crumple once they play in international tournament. This clearly reflects the gap between them and the world class players. Be courageous to accept change 周建明（29歲、Banker） The mentality of players is very important. Even though we have Hendrawan, Tan Kim Her and etc as the national coach, the players will not benefit from them if the players do not take the coaches advice to improve their games. Let go off glory? 陳小穎（26years old, secretary） BAM put too much emphasis on elite team and neglect the juniors team. As a result, not many junior players have the ability to compete. Besides, most players from other countries were trained systematically ever since they were young while our players play merely because of self interest. Some of our players only started their training when they were spotted by a coach. Bam needs to put more emphasis in training up the youngsters quick to take over from the old guards. And not just blindly chasing after short term glory by sending the same elite players to tournaments after tournaments. They need to look into their junior training programme and give the juniors 3-4 years time to improve their games. You can’t clap with one hand 譚智賢（35years old、hawker） The lack of talents is happening in Indonesia and Denmark too, however the situation in Malaysia is much more worrying. Other than China, Malaysia needs to learn from Japan. Japan used to send a lot of their players to various tournament, just to find that their players lost in the first few rounds. However, time has proven that Japan’s effort has starts to bear fruits. Besides, the coach needs to work closely together with their charges to produce good results as you can’t clap with just one hand. Increase the pay of players 劉德欽（24years old、Marketing manager） I think there are talents in Malaysia. BAM needs to organize more domestic tournaments to scout for talented players. Besides, they need to increase the salary of badminton players because a lot of parents always hope that their kids can get a good job in the future. Why isn’t there a badminton league? 林佩珊（28years old、客戶人員） I do not understand why Malaysia could not imitate others countries to organize some domestic league games? I believe holding a domestic league in Malaysia is not a hard thing as Malaysia is one of the badminton powerhouse. Other that the junior and elite players in the national team, Malaysia still have a lot of potential players and the league games will give BAM the opportunity to discover more talents. The problem lies on player’s attitude 陳國順（19years old、student） Besides, talent is very important and it is very rare to find a player who has a good attitude and talent. I hope that Malaysia will not be overly dependent on Lee Chong Wei and give the younger players a chance to play for the nation. Source: http://www.chinapress.com.my/node/246245
Badminton odyssey for Danish youths in Odense 19 Oct 2011 The Star Malaysia PETALING JAYA: The focus may be on the world’s badminton stars when the Denmark Open begins today but the hosts have not forgotten their juniors. The inaugural Yonex Denmark Junior tournament will be held concurrently with the US$400,000 Premier Super Series event and Malaysian veteran Wong Choong Hann thinks that it is a good idea to inspire the youngsters. A total of 650 juniors from all over Denmark will participate in the youth competition at halls around Odense in the morning. In the evening, they will make a beeline to watch their stars in action at the Odense Sports Hall – for free. And Choong Hann feels that Malaysia should emulate Denmark’s efforts. “I applaud them. They certainly think of the future. A junior player gets to achieve two things at the same time. They get good competition and they will also be inspired by watching their stars in action. The majority may not come if it is only to watch the matches,” said Choong Hann. “This is a great way to inspire the young players. Denmark have the knack of being creative and always try to do their best for their juniors. They know that it is worth investing in the future. I hope Malaysia can do something similar.” Denmark’s emphasis on junior development programme paid dividends when Viktor Axelsen was crowned world junior champion last year. Malaysia could host an Inter-State tournament during the Malaysia Open Super Series next year and this will give shuttlers from all corners of the country an opportunity to compete and also watch their stars in action at the same time. Meanwhile, Choong Hann is continuing to do his part to give badminton fans a platform to polish their skills. Choong Hann and his Pioneer Sports Management company partners – Lee Wan Wah, Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng – have set up their third badminton centre – Tropicana Badminton Academy, in Sungai Buloh. Their first two centres are at Sunsuria Avenue in Kota Damansara and Endah Parade in Sri Petaling.
My question: Is BAM ever going to change and accepts the opinions that have been emphasized again and again by experts and the public?
Nicely done icleing. Similar issues also can be adapt to other countries but its the Malaysia badminton future that we care most. Such issue has not been repeatedly highlighted once but many times but unless BAM wants to change, then how grandiose heaven and earth the critics given, then its like talking to a wall and there will still be no change. Obviously BAM knows that: - Unlikely there will be a competitive world beater in the MS department other than Dato' for the next 5 - 10 years ( or more ). - No solid and consistent MD pair for the next 5 - 10 years - Due to the above scenario, unlikely Malaysia can win the Thomas Cup for how many don't know years and also the other major tournaments in the future... The only consistency that BAM is good in doing are changing this coach to that department, changing that coach to this department, hiring new coaches, regular CTC meeting and what's similar with it, selecting player that don't deserve while those obviously deserves aren't selected etc...........
Lack of confidence on and off court a glaring factor 27 Oct 2011 The Star Malaysia RAJES PAUL starspt@thestar.com.my "ONE of Denmark’s greatest players – Peter Gade – had to stay on court for 65 minutes to fend off a fierce challenge from his junior Viktor Axelsen in a quarter-final match in the Denmark Open last week. The 17-year-old Axelsen showed plenty of charisma, tons of determination and a never-say-die attitude – despite trailing 16-18 in the second game. His positive and commendable attitude, which was there for everyone to see when he faced his idol Christensen, went down well with the crowd, winning him thunderous applause despite his defeat. And interestingly, he was not at a loss for words, either. He was able to digest the reasons behind his failure and was able to articulate specifically his next course of action – confidently. Sadly, these characteristics are sorely lacking in a majority of Malaysian youngsters. They play without showing much emotion on court. They tend to be timid against players ranked higher than them. Some do not even speak their mind. And, what’s worse is that they usually have nothing meaningful to say about their defeats – or wins for that matter. In last week’s Denmark Open, the 24-year-old Liew Daren was a pale shadow of himself, hardly showing any urgency in his loss to India’s Anand Pawar. The 22-year-old Mohd Arif Abdul Latiff played better but even he admitted that his lack of confidence was his biggest drawback. Perhaps, our players are not entirely to be blamed for how they carry themselves on – and off – court. After all, most of us from the Asian society tend to be more introvert compared to our western compatriots. A player like Axelsen has gone through six levels of competition with his club before earning the right to train alongside Christensen at the national training centre. At his club, he gets to play at least 30 matches a year! And that is not counting the junior tournaments organised by Denmark Badminton Association. And mind you, some of these juniors travel 50km during weekends, driven by their devoted parents, to these club competitions. They are taught to be independent at a young age. In Malaysia, it’s a big deal if a junior shuttler can get to play 10 matches a year. Without a solid club system, we depend heavily on the states’ programmes. Unfortunately, our states’ system is limp. They are not vigorous enough to provide a platform for youngsters to enjoy badminton – either competitively or for fun. The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have been too engrossed with the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) and elite programmes for quite some time. And some of these players have been spoon-fed for far too long. There are a few ways BAM can use to teach these back-up players to be independent. For a start, send them for a threemonth training stint in other parts of the country so as to teach them to be self-reliant. Or simply base them in Europe – some time in April would be fine – where some small international events are being held. They can stay at the Bath University in England and travel around Europe – on their own, of course – to participate in these events. Money should not be an issue as Maybank have come in big to support the game. BAM could also hire a communication expert to teach the players to speak confidently. As for long-term strategy, partnership with the schools is the way to go. BAM are already looking into it but they should not take too long, otherwise the interest will slowly wane as has happened so often before. It is also time for the BAM to fully support the clubs. They should encourage club participation in their competitive events and even find ways to link these clubs to schools. As more young shuttlers get early exposure, they will be able to carry themselves confidently when they step onto the court. So, let’s start early and mould the young ones to be strong in mind and physique."
Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to translate all these info for us. It must not have been easy, but your hard work and perseverance is very much appreciated.
