Skip to main content

Kim Hock on the hunt for young badminton talent

Former Olympic medallist Yap Kim Hock Kim Hock launched an Under-19 state development programme under the Klang United Badminton Club (KUBC). - BRUCE LEE/The Star
Former Olympic medallist Yap Kim Hock Kim Hock launched an Under-19 state development programme under the Klang United Badminton Club (KUBC). - BRUCE LEE/The Star


KLANG: The first season of the Kopiko Purple League (KPL) is done and dusted, but former Olympic men’s doubles silver medallist Yap Kim Hock is not taking a break just yet.
Driven by a passion to find new talent for the country, Kim Hock launched an Under-19 state development programme under the Klang United Badminton Club (KUBC).

In the inaugural KPL which ended last month, KUBC, owned by Kim Hock, finished ninth out of ... teams. Unlike the other teams, KUBC were represented mostly by juniors.
Under the development programme, Kim Hock hopes to identify talent for Selangor as well as Malaysia.

Kim Hock is one of the coaches together with former men’s singles international Lim Chen Wet.
There are nine juniors – Leong Jun Hao, Ng Jin Ping, Roslyn Tan Hui Lyn, Reuben Tan Kiang Weng, Chin Wai Kin, Ooi Zi Heng, Mohd Nuraidil Adha Azman, Yap Rui Chen and Yap Yee – under the programme.

Kim Hock, a national chief coach from 2004-2008, said he was disappointed with the lack of players coming up through the ranks.
“I’m determined to get to the root of the problem. Many juniors give up badminton when they don’t get selected into the BJSS (Bukit Jalil Sports School). BJSS can accommodate only 10 players at every intake. What happens to the other budding players?

“It does not mean that they are not good enough if they don’t make it to the BJSS.
“With the Under-19 programme in place, we hope to give these young talented juniors the opportunity to excel as well as to provide a bigger talent pool for the country.

“The goal is to develop them from district to the state level. And hopefully they graduate to the national level. All these players will be fully funded by our club,” said Kim Hock, who received a RM30,000 sponsorship for the programme from businessman Datuk Seri Lee Kuan Yew.

Kim Hock added that the formation of the programme was also in line with the KPL’s future plan of having a second-tier professional league for Under-19 players.


 by Rajes Paul - The Star

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...
12 comments
Read more

Organising Major Sports Events Can Inspire Sports Culture Among The People - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- Organising major sports events can help inspire sports culture among the people and ensure a healthy lifestyle said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said the Tour of Malaysia cycling race organised since 1963, for example, can encourage more people to take the sport in a more competitive way or just for recreation purposes. "A study carried out by a world renown medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that 61 percent of adults in Malaysia do not engage themselves in active sports. "A study by the Health Ministry revealed that only 25 percent of Malaysians exercise," he said in his speech when launching the 2013 Tour of Malaysia (Jelajah Malaysia) at the Youth and Sports Ministry, here, Wednesday. "Cycling, though not as popular here as in countries like Denmark, the activity is becoming popular among the people as can be seen through an increase in sale of bicycles for recreation," he sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
11 comments
Read more