INDONESIAN badminton legend Rexy Mainaky is unhappy with the venue for the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC).
Rexy yesterday notified the organisers to quickly rectify several technical issues ahead of the competition that starts tomorrow at the Setia City Convention Centre in Shah Alam.
The 54-year-old, who is also BA of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director, was especially concerned with the unbalanced height of the nets on court, the lighting and the strong draft in the multipurpose hall that will host the Thomas and Uber Cup qualifiers for the next one week.
Speaking to the press following the national team's first training session at the venue, Rexy said: "There are several technical concerns in regard to the unbalanced height of the net poles and the lighting that hurts the players' eyes. I have informed Badminton Asia, as well as the Badminton World Federation, as these things can affect the players.
"The organisers are looking into it and will rectify them ahead of the competition. That's why we need to test the courts.
"The draft in the hall is also too strong on one side."
Meanwhile, Rexy confirmed that Malaysia will not be experimenting with scratch pairs for the BATC as he does not want players losing their focus.
The former Thai BA supremo, who rejoined BAM for a second stint late last year, also does not want to put too much pressure on the doubles department, despite being more experienced than their singles counterparts.
"We don't want our players to lose focus or to take things lightly. Therefore, we won't be scratching our pairs.
"We will stick to our original combinations.
"Also, it is my job and Wong Choong Hann's job to make sure all players share the same feeling and pressure when they get on the court.
"Of course, our doubles players are more experienced, and it is very important for them to deliver the points, but our singles players must also share the same feeling and pressure," added Rexy.
For the men's event, Malaysia are in Group B with Japan, Singapore and Kazakhstan, while the women's are in Group Y with defending champions Japan and India.
The Malaysian men's team will open their BATC campaign on Wednesday against Singapore, while the women's play India tomorrow.
At the previous edition in Manila two years ago, the Malaysian men's team surprised everyone by reaching the final before losing 3-1 to Indonesia. The women's team also upset the form book by reaching the last four before losing 3-0 to Japan.