Rashid Sidek aims to push back-up players for improvement – Badminton News
Malaysia’s Singles coach Rashid Sidek knows that Lee Chong Wei’s retirement will leave a huge gap so he vowed to push back-up shuttlers to make the grade in the next four years.
The two-time Olympic silver medallist Chong Wei intends to call it a day within two years and nation is still waiting for his true successor to step forward.
At the moment, Daren Liew and Wei Feng Chong, currently ranked 27 and 32 respectively, are the frontrunners to continue his legacy but they still need lot of work to shoulder their responsibility.
However, Rashid Sidek believes that all the back-up shuttlers are capable of raising the country’s flag in the future but they just need to elevate their status in the arena to register their presence.
He said, “The immediate goal now is to make sure these players improve their rankings because it will give them belief and confidence to strive for further improvements.”
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is working on a four-year project to whip the junior players into shape to raise their chances in the 2016 Olympics.
This special squad comprises Junior World champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli, Misbun Ramdan Misbun, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Loh Wei Sheng.
The badminton guru Rashid does not mind even if the independent players prove their eligibility to represent the country at the international level as he stated that they are world class national campaigners regardless of their background and associations.
He said, “It doesn’t matter whether if they are from Ramdan’s batch or the older ones like Arif and (Chong) Wei Feng because they have to step up and make a difference. Even the younger ones from BJSS will be given a chance.”
Moreover, he also briefed that they have already started fielding these youngsters in important tournaments to give them proper international exposure before the departure of the maestro Chong Wei.
Meanwhile, the other Singles coach of Malaysia Tey Seu Bock also has the same idea as he advised these youngsters to put an extra effort to earn a spot in the national squad.
However, he also thinks that Chong Wei should not rule out 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games as he is still in good shape to compete at the international level.
Tags: