Arif Abdul Latif lashes out at BAM after All-England Snub – Badminton news
The Malaysian reserved player Arif Abdul Latif lashed out at the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) after getting overlooked for back to back the All England and Swiss Open events, set to be held from March 6-18.
The decision was made by BAM coaching and training committee, who decided to drop him from these European events on the basis of his poor performance in Thomas Cup preliminaries and Selangor Open.
The other singles Malaysian shuttlers Daren Liew, Hafiz Hashim and Lee Chong Wei were able to maintain their spot in the final squad.
Arif was expected to be the part of national team but the committee preferred the young Chong Wei Feng, who claimed the crown in Selangor Open last week by edging all the veterans.
The World Number 51 Malaysian shuttler Arif labels it an unfair decision and asserted that the standards should have been the same for everyone.
He said, “I admit I did not play well at the qualifiers. But why judge me on one tournament only? Why are the others not subjected to the same treatment. I have trained hard and I was looking forward to these two tournaments. How can I improve on my ranking
when my place has been given to someone else.”
Daren Liew and Arif Abdul Latif both had to face the music after their below-par act in the Thomas Cup qualifiers in Macau where they could not win even a single match. They could not register their class in Selangor Open also.
Arif though raised objections on BAM’s criteria of selection but he hopes to prove it wrong by exhibiting his prime skills in other events.
He said, “For now, I am a nobody in the team. I have no results to show and, maybe, that’s why I cannot defend myself. I will use this experience to improve myself and show that I can make it in badminton.”
Arif Abdul Latif, after hearing the news from the coach Hendrawan, has no other choice than to accept the decision which means he does not stand much chance to make it into the Thomas Cup Finals after losing his spot in these two European tournaments.
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