Kuala Lumpur: The President of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Mohamad Norza Zakaria was pleased to see Malaysian men’s singles players regained the confidence after Soong Joo Ven won the Malaysia International Series title at the Perak Badminton Arena on Sunday.
According to Zakaria, both Soong Joo Ven, and also Cheam June Wei who emerged as runners-up have proved that both are ready to play alongside World No. 18 Lee Zii Jia to transform into a world-beater.
“I’m also happy with some young players such as Lim Chong King and Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin who tried to challenge Joo Ven and June Wei,” said Zakaria.
Soong claimed the men’s singles title in Ipoh by beating Cheam June Wei 21-13, 22-20 in the final.
Overall, these young players would slowly realize their potentials to shape the future of Malaysian badminton, including the new women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan/M Thinaah.
Meanwhile, Tan/Thinaah survived a tough challenge in their first appearance together at international tournaments after defeating Indonesian pair Febriana Kusuma/Ribka Sugiarto 21-16, 11-21, 21-18 to win the women’s doubles crown.
Zakaria also stressed that BAM would provide all the help and support needed to help those who showed improvement.
“We always emphasize on the Key Performance Indicator(KPI) and those who showed great potential will be given more chances to play at bigger tournaments.
Zakaria also said those who have stayed with BAM for a long period of time but failed to show results, he would discuss that matter with BAM’s Coaching Director, Wong Choong Hann.
“I have told Choong Hann to set a deadline and a warn those players who failed to improve,” added Zakaria.
“This is because we need to give way to new faces,” he said.
