Kuala Lumpur: The coaching director of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Wong Choong Hann stressed that the organization needed to start nurturing young men’s singles talents.
According to Wong, from now on, the focus should be on developing young talents rather than relying on senior players.
“We are really behind compared to other countries in term of growing young players such as Ng Tze Yong, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin and Lim Chong King,” said Wong.
All three players above are below 19 years old and have been training with their seniors since being promoted from the junior team last January.
As of right now, the future of Malaysian badminton legend Lee Chong Wei is still up in the air after being diagnosed with nose cancer last year, BAM can only rely on World No. 20 Lee Zii Jia, World No. 72 Soong Joo Ven and World No. 91 Cham June Wei in the men’s singles category.
“Tze Yong, Aidil and Chong King showed good attitude during training and they demonstrated a strong desire to keep improving,” added Wong.
“In fact, they were given additional fitness and training sessions to help them catch up with the senior players who have physical advantage.”
“They’ve proven to senior players that only hard work can secure a place in the national squad and this is a reminder to everyone that BAM will only retain the best players,” said Wong.
