The Star Online > Sports Sunday April 12, 2009 TODAY, Christians all over the world celebrate Easter – a day of resurrection and that is exactly what the world of badminton needs. The badminton powerhouses, including Malaysia, are currently witnessing a dearth of talented men’s singles shuttlers. The sport badly needs saviours to breathe life and inject excitement back into the men’s singles event once again. In Malaysia, there is no one else except for world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei to carry the torch. It’s the same elsewhere too. In fact, do not be surprised if the battle for supremacy at the 2012 London Olympic Games boils down to the same old protagonists – Chong Wei, China’s Lin Dan, Denmark’s Peter-Gade Christensen and Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat! That is the sorry state of world badminton. Except for China, probably, the world is starved of new talents in men’s singles. Indonesia are hoping to unearth more Taufiks; Denmark are scouring the land for another Christensen; and South Korea’s only hope for now is Park Sung-hwan. China currently have several juniors waiting in the wings but they are not expected to soar as high as their former greats – like Yang Yang, Zhao Jianhua and Han Jian. In Malaysia, Chong Wei’s almost total domination of the local scene for seven years speaks volumes of the dearth of talent at home. If only we had three Chong Weis, Malaysia can surely look forward to winning the Thomas Cup Finals for the first time in 17 years on home turf next year. But the gap between the back-up shuttlers and Chong Wei is so wide that surely something must be wrong with BAM’s coaching and training set-up. They have good coaches and fantastic facilities; they adopt the Sports Science approach in training; the shuttlers are offered lucrative incentive packages; and there is the three-tier national training structure — elite, back-up elite and Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS). The second echelon of players — Liew Daren, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Chong Wei Feng and Tan Chun Seang — cannot be faulted for not trying their best. It is just that their best is simply not good enough. Singles chief coach Rashid Sidek is at his wits’ end trying to figure out ways to help these players make the breakthrough. What is wrong then? In China, a 10-year-old child goes into full-time training. In Malaysia, full-time training only begins after Form Five. In China, the juniors spar with the cream of the crop daily. In Malaysia, this takes place only three times a week. In China, all the provinces are involved in nurturing talents. In Malaysia, only Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kedah, Johor and Sabah are active. BAM president Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh admitted they were facing a serious problem due to the lack of depth in the men’s singles department, saying: “We have to do something different. There has to be some drastic changes. “Our juniors are improving in small steps but we want to see them making progress by leaps and bounds. “We are seriously looking into this.” The BA of Malaysia only have to take a few steps back to find the solution. They need to go back to the basics and that is to focus on schools and grassroots programmes and kick the “sleeping” states into action. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) too have a big role to play to get all their affiliates on the right track again because, for the last few years, there has been too much distraction with the power struggles within the set-up. The world body will have a chance to get their act right when they hold their annual general meeting (AGM) on the opening day of the Sudirman Cup in Guangzhou, China, next month. And, hopefully, the focus will be on how to raise up new stars rather than trying to ‘kill’ each other in the quest for power and control.
education is important, too. never forget about a life after badminton. european players can take a normal job after retiring. in china it is difficult, isn't it?
So many Bcers quoted Rajes Paul, huh? If we have something to be learn from China, take it. It's not our lost, anw.
I have said this doom and gloom of badminton many many threads ago...and Pemuda has said the same of going back to grassroots and bid bye, bye to the 'uncles' and the floaters....and CHN having done her part in finding new young stars, especially in WS, will be penalized by players quota/restriction when playing in major tourneys. INA, MAS, DEN, KOR do not have any great young players that are ready to step in...sad but true.
there is a dearth of talent in WS too..perhaps even worse. THe fact that veteran players like Zhou mi, Pi Hongyan , and Tine still dominate the scene speaks volumes. Otherwise, only China seems to be able to produce young up and coming players consistently...it's a sorry state..
so, the real question is, why don't the other big badminton nations follow china's lead in scouting/training youngsters? or is the point really just china's humongous pool of talent?
We'd want to send the best among the best. Who doesn't? Suggest the names, if what BAM had now is not satisfying. China is certainly can be a reference, they have a bunch of promising juniors. China is China, though. We can never be them. Learn something from them, but don't be them.
As you also know, in democratic countries, cant follow like China. If you're a parent, one of the questions will be : what will happen after the kid retires if he/she doesnt continue on studies? Education is regarded as important for getting post retirement jobs. How many parents will agree to full time training at the age of 7,8,9 or 10 ? Or even that the laws would allow it, it's still compulsory education up to secondary. Currently, even the good back-up players contemplated quitting to further their studies (Ng Hui Lin, 2007 WJC winner). There're others who have gotten studies scholarships & gone off. And the other aspect has been discussed in another thread, Msian back up players either need to work part time or their parents need to support some part of the expenses. And that's for full time back up players.
malaysia actually have many talented players in their back up squad and bjss players..however sometimes we can see get there are some players that cant performance well why are they still in da team..coaches have to choose those talented from many states for example penang n kedah..there are so many talented players!!
They could be hidden here.. ..looking at the number of M'sian BCers posting in here, could the talents be hidden in here??..In China, all the young players are involved in high level competitions. In Malaysia, most of the young players are actively posting in a badminton forum. I think MAS and its sister baddy powerhouse country, INA, are undergoing some major talent search. IMO, economic stability and assurance for the younger players are part of the factors in this current dearth of future MS talents.
Talent requires sufficient opportunities over time to reach threshold level where it becomes visible.Both LCW and LD have ample opportunities to show their worth.So do CJ and BCL and WCH but their limits are obvious even with their hard work. With MAS youngsters, it's difficult to tell their limits until they have 3 years of consistent exposure. Even LCW took more than 3 years to show his class and Rashid expects his players to deliver with erratic exposure! Now he threatens to deprive them of tourneys as punishment.That's silly.Coaches should know how to manage their expectations.You look at CHN MS DPY.He crashed out first round in GO and IO but he made SF in ABC.Erratic outcomes are not unique to MAS.Just analyse all the other teams' youngsters and he'll know MAS performance is normal in the early stages. What I'm impressed about MAS is that in spite of their much smaller team size and less comprehensive preparations compared to CHN,MAS MD and MS still can outclass their CHN counterparts.It indicates that MAS coaches are superior in skills training and/or MAS MD and MS talent is better quality since we know CHN players are no 1 in stamina.
well, i think you're right about the stamina bit, especially amongst most malaysian players, except for LCW. have been watching the ABC videos posted recently, and the chinese youngsters certainly put a lot of effort into their games.
In Germany it is usual that football clubs like Borussia Dortmund or Bayern Munich found colleges specially for young talents. So in the morning they practise then go to school and in the afternoon they practise again. Moreover the adolescents live in the school. I don't know if "college" is the right world for a school where the pupils live. In Germany you call it "Internat" Anyway, last year a college was founded for young badminton talents and it is supported by Yonex. I think this is the best way to support the youth to improve their skills without ignoring a future after retiring from a possible international carrier in badminton.
That's great for a start and let's hope Yonex sustain the initiative indefinitely.Is Marc Zwiebler a beneficiary of that? He defeated BP in AE09 and kept LCW on court longer than TH did.I hope he plays in Spore Open 09.Will look out to support him.
isn't football clubs from europe scouted players across the world.?? some even as young as 14 & straight away they went to the academy & when they grow older it depends if they make it into the teams e.g. Bayern Munich , Arsenal or etc..
