Malaysia faces scarcity of quality shuttlers in the Men’s Singles category
Malaysia’s future in the Men’s Singles category is alarming, as the country is not having skilled shuttlers to represent them in their squad at the moment except Lee Chong Wei, who is currently World Number One. He is the only Malaysian player who has the
skill to beat all top shuttlers of the world. Besides him, there is no Malaysian player who is apparently strong enough to put up a good show of quality badminton at the international level.
A shocking situation arises when a country having such a rich culture of sports and where badminton is religiously followed by a huge majority of people, fails to produce Men’s Singles players to compete at the international level. Malaysia is having numerous
legends of badminton who have served the country for decades, but currently Malaysia is fully relying on Chong Wei. He has proved his worth through the maximum level of hard work and commitment for the sport.
The 28-year-old Chong Wei, who won a silver medal at the 2011 World Championships, has been enjoying the top position in the world rankings of Men’s Singles for more than three years. However, no other Malaysian shuttler has been able to get into even the
top-50 positions in Men’s Singles category, which is quite threatening as Chong Wei is expected to retire in two years and there will not be any worthy successor to him.
To stop the scary future of Malaysia in the Men’s Singles category, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) needs to take some revolutionary steps and groom back-up and young shuttlers to remain in the top contenders at international events. The back-up
players need to improve their technical and tactical skills, to prove their worth against top athletes from China, Korea, Indonesia and Denmark.
In the Men’s Singles national squad of Malaysia, Daren Liew is the second seed and he is placed at Number 60 in the Men’s Singles world rankings. There is a huge gap between Chong Wei and the second seed back-up shuttler of Malaysia, which clearly indicates
the alarming situation.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), which is the governing body of the sport in the country, has failed to stop this growing gap which has now become so massive that it will take at least a few years to fill it. Apart from loop poles in the policies
of BAM, shuttlers also do not have the hunger in them which is required to become a world beater. Only Chong Wei has the intent and his results proves this fact as his focus has pushed the top shuttler in the world to go on and on, by working hard with greater
level of dedication and commitment.
BAM needs to take the matter with utmost seriousness and should take rapid steps to deal with this impending threat in the Men’s Singles category. The governing body should organise more and more domestic events and should also put more incentives in these
tournaments, which is the only way to deal with this approaching danger.
These domestic tournaments will also help increase the popularity of the sport and the incentives will push young shuttlers to work hard and represent their country by becoming world-class players.
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