Malaysian shuttlers’ ‘see-saw’ performances has the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) worried as they search for their first gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
This was admitted by BAM’s deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria himself, who wants the issue of consistency among players to be sorted out as soon as possible.
“I have discussed with Morten Frost (technical director) and one of the problems we are dealing with our shuttlers is inconsistency, where they will be able to beat top ranked players but then lose to lower ranked players at the same time.”
“This has to be solved before they go further, for instance to the Olympics. Because all our efforts will be in vain if we repeat this again at an international event,” he said, as quoted by Harian Metro.
It can’t be denied that national badminton players have been in this situation for years, most prominently seen at the recent Jakarta World Championships.
Men doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong started well by defeating defending champions Ko Sung Hyun-Shin Baek Cheol from South Korea but admitted defeat at the hands of China’s young pair Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan.
Women doubles Amelia Alicia Anscelly-Soong Fie Cho made it to the quarter finals in Jakarta, beating first seed Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi of Japan, but ended up eliminated by Taiwan pair Chen Hsiao Huan-Huang Mei Ching in the Vietnam Open.
Same goes to Zulfadli Zulkiffli, who crashed out of the Vietnam Open after losing to unknown Anthony Ginting of Indonesia despite placed as the 11th seed.
As a record, former world no.1 Lee Chong Wei is the only player to have consistently played in all tournaments, even after losing the final in Jakarta.
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