Skip to main content

Khairy: BAM back on track

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (second from right) at an exhibition booth after opening the 13th Asian Federation of Sports Medicine Congress at the Berjaya Times Square Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Khairy says BAM's coaching problems have been resolved. – Bernama Photo
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (second from right) at an exhibition booth after opening the 13th Asian Federation of Sports Medicine Congress at the Berjaya Times Square Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Khairy says BAM's coaching problems have been resolved. – Bernama Photo


KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin hopes the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is back on track after resolving some problems with their national coaches.
Khairy had a discussion with BAM’s president Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff on Wednesday and was happy that all the issues had been resolved and hoped that Rashid Sidek would reconsider his resignation decision.

Last week, national singles coach Rashid Sidek quit because he could not work under the new coaching environment set up up by BAM Talent Management Group (TMG) director Tan Aik Mong.
On Tuesday, Aik Mong withdrew from the programme, a day after Tengku Mahaleel reverted to the original structure during a meeting on Monday with the national coaches.
Khairy said that as far as he was concerned, the matter is settled.

“After my discussion with Tan Sri Mahaleel on Wednesday, I believe that all issues have been resolved. Tengku Mahaleel has received explanations from both Rashid and Tey Seu Bock (on the Indian Badminton League contracts),” said Khairy after launching the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine Congress at the Berjaya Times Square Convention Centre on Thursday.

“Rashid is a national hero and should have been treated accordingly. For now, BAM have made him an offer and I hope he will consider returning. He has good relationships with the players – especially Lee Chong Wei.”

On Aik Mong, Khairy said: “I was told by Tengku Mahaleel that Aik Mong has set up a new plan for coaching and this will be used. He did not want to be embroiled in any controversy and has agreed to step down.

“The focus for Tengku Mahaleel and Aik Mong has been on coaching and naturally, this ruffled some feathers. Some people will be unhappy when changes take place. I support the effort to strengthen our coaching set-up.”

Khairy however hopes that in future matters concerning coaches would be handled more tactfully.
“I think problems arose in BAM because of miscommunication and rash assumptions by parties involved. They had good intentions. Everyone wanted to find replacements for Lee Chong Wei but there could have been some miscommunication.

“I have been told that the new coaching plan has been put in place. We can now close the chapter on this issue,” he added.



By RAJES PAUL - THE STAR

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...

Badminton: Fans rooting for all-Malaysian semis

Reports: RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: The home fans will be rooting for an all-Malaysian men’s singles semi-final between Lee Chong Wei and Liew Daren. But Chong Wei is more fancied to advance than Daren in quarter-final matches against Indonesian Simon Santoso and Dane Peter Gade-Christensen respectively at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. Yesterday, Chong Wei defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in a second-round match that saw the world number one struggling to adapt to the draught in the stadium in the second game. And Daren continued a fairy tale run in his home Open, blowing away a toothless Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Taiwan 21-14, 21-12. Although Choong Wei had to slog for the win over Tien Minh, the top seed and defending champion felt that he was playing better by the day. “I got off to a good start but found it hard to cope with the draught. I tried to catch up after losing my momentum but that did not happen and I decided to conserve energy for ...

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...