Focus should be on Olympic Games rather than Thomas Cup Finals, says Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar
Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar, the president of Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM), said that shuttlers should work according to the plan for Olympic Games rather than taking stress of the Thomas Cup Finals.
Tunku Imran expressed that Thomas Cup is an important team-event tournament but holds less importance as compared to Olympics, which is the most prestigious event for any game in the world of sports.
He also supported the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) for targeting Olympics rather than Thomas Cup.
The governing body of badminton in Malaysia has formulated training plan for the Olympics without putting pressure on shuttlers to produce good results in Thomas Cup.
Tunku Imran said that it will be very hard for players to take extra burden and maintain their top performance in both tournaments. He appreciated the plan of BAM and said that priority will be Olympics not Thomas Cup.
However, Tunku Imran also accepted that Thomas Cup is an important tournament but this is an Olympic year and all efforts should be made to achieve gold medal in this mega event.
While talking about importance of Olympic Games, Tunku Imran said that he has always been telling to BAM that put whole focus on winning a title in this prestigious event.
He said, "Actually, I have always told them (BAM) to put the focus on the Olympics rather than the Thomas Cup. I am not denigrating the Thomas Cup. It is a great team event and we have a great tradition in the tournament. To win the tournament would be very
difficult for us this year because we do not have enough depth in the squad.”
He further added, "It is important that we do look at the Olympics as the pinnacle of all sports. I believe they (BAM) have got their priorities right in looking at (winning) a medal.”
Tunku Imran also said that many young shuttlers have shown a wonderful improvement and they should be prepared for the next edition of Thomas Cup Finals, which will take place in 2014.
However, now he wants BAM to remain completely focused in preparing shuttlers for acquiring desired results in the Olympic Games.
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