Why Malaysia is lagging behind competitors in Women’s Singles department? – Badminton Feature
Malaysia has a splendid history of producing world class badminton players over the years but strangely the international arena has not seen any top class female Malaysian shuttler for past many years.
This badminton-crazy nation has given the world legends like “Sidek Brothers” and Lee Chong Wei in Men’s category but unfortunately badminton lovers hardly remember any name of female campaigners except Wong Mew Choo who retired in 2011.
Thanks to Wong Mew, Malaysia managed to secure Mixed Doubles gold medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games and other prestigious titles like 2009 BWF Super Series Masters Finals, 2007 China Open Super Series and 2003 XXII Southeast Asian Games but they could not
find a proper replacement for her.
Though, World Number 17 Women’s Doubles experts Chin Eei h*i and Wong Pei Tty have managed to save country’s honour to some extent but they have failed to show consistency in their performance.
Likewise, Tee Jing Yi, Lydia Cheah and Sonia Cheah are covering the Women’s flank but they still have long way to go to make a strong impression at senior level. These young shuttlers possess all the guts but they need to elevate their physical and mental
strength to stand tall at the international level.
It seems Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is giving all the attention to their male campaigners as it has not introduced any special coaching and training programme for these struggling but talented female shuttlers.
BAM should follow working style of China, Japan and Thailand as these countries were facing same problems few years back but they dealt these issues on emergency basis.
They provided their youngsters regular opportunities to train with their top players and then fielded these shuttlers in various international events which yielded good results and now they are enjoying respectable status in the arena.
Conversely, young Malaysian shuttlers never get chance to brush shoulders with seniors. This transition of a player from junior to senior level is crucial but BAM never gives them proper attention and they pass out from Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) without
any exposure.
The most successful female shuttler Mew Choo used to train with male sparring partners and this training style helped her lot to raise the country’s flag across the globe.
Maybe slight change in BAM coaching setup and training strategy can do the trick. The coaching and training committee chairman Ng Chin Chai should take some hard decision to end this drought.
Moreover, they do not conduct any talent hunt to increase the pool and there is a communication gap between state departments and national body as no one monitors programmes of local bodies.
Unlike the other powerhouses of badminton, Malaysia lacks depth in its structure as its states do not organise Inter-State tournaments to provide local players a stage to exhibit their craft. They do not have even proper organisational structure to take
care of these players who are not in the national setup.
Another big reason of their failure to produce top class female shuttlers is that very few Malaysian girls are attracted towards the game as they do not have idols like Lee Chong Wei in the Women’s department.
Last but not the least, players always need financial securities to focus their careers and the absence of sponsors and government’s support is also a factor that girls have failed in building a successful career in badminton.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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