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Rashid explains why juniors fail to shine in the senior ranks

KUALA LUMPUR: National singles chief coach Rashid Sidek has identified several reasons behind the junior shuttlers' failure to shine in the senior ranks.
And two of the main reasons, he said, were the lack of competitive tournaments and self-motivation among the juniors.

He hopes that the youngsters would be sent out to more tournaments in order to speed up their transition from being aspiring juniors to accomplished seniors.
Rashid certainly knows what he is talking about.

“I was the singles and doubles Asian junior champion in the late 80s. But it took me two years to make the grade in the senior ranks. It is not easy for a junior to start all over again as a senior player because everything becomes tougher,” said Rashid.

“During my time, we lacked tournaments. I had to constantly motivate myself to raise my game. I used to be beaten easily in Open tournaments but I did not let it dampen my spirit.

“Every defeat was a learning experience and I continued to set higher goals as I progressed.
“But now, players get demoralised easily. They fail to realise that the level of competition and expectations are different in junior and senior competitions.

“They are also easily put off by early failures. Instead of letting it affect them, they should be fired up to work their way up.”

Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, the 2007 Asian Junior runner-up, is one good example.

After dominating the junior circuits, he failed to make any impact in the senior tournaments and the coaches are currently working on rebuilding his confidence.

Rashid said that he would review the training and competition programmes for the recently promoted juniors like Iskandar Zulkarnain Zulkifli, Mohd Syawal Ismail and Misbun Ramdan.

“I will send them out more frequently to help them catch up with the seniors. They can compete in the satellite, international challenge and Grand Prix Gold tournaments.

“We have many options now and I am happy that the BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia) have agreed to give them more exposure,” he said.

Rashid also hoped that the younger players would adopt the same kind work ethics and commitment shown in training by world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei.

“Honestly speaking, Chong Wei is the most committed player in training. He sets his own goals and we, the coaches, do not have to make him do it. He is self-motivated,” said Rashid.
“After winning the All-England, he told us (the coaches) that his next mission is the World Championships (in August in Paris) and, I know he will work towards achieving that.

“The defeat by Lin Dan (at the recent Thomas Cup Finals) will teach him to be better prepared. He knows that Lin Dan is still his main rival and he has to work on the right strategy to counter the Chinese.”
Rashid said that while they worked on identifying the younger singles players for the future and drafting tailor-made programmes for them, Chong Wei and Mohd Hafiz Hashim would be sent for the Opens in Singapore and Indonesia next month.

The Singapore Open is from June 15-20 and the Indonesian Open from June 22-27.


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