KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian badminton is either full of surprises, or for a lack of a better word, drama.
After sharing his thoughts on Lee Zii Jia's preparation for the World Championships next week, Team LZJ coach, Wong Tat Meng, dropped a bombshell today when he took to social media, accusing the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) of bullying professional players.
Tat Meng, who returned to Malaysia last month after successful coaching stints in South Korea and Hong Kong, slammed the national body for issuing a new directive, which requires independent players who train at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara, to wear neutral brand apparels, or that which does not clearly display the logo of their personal sponsors.
BAM has signed a five-year sponsorship with Japanese sports equipment brand, Yonex, in 2021.
This new revelation, so close to the World Championships and so sudden, did not only upset Tat Meng and the other professional players, but also hardcore badminton fans, who in the past one year, have been extremely critical of the national association.
"Before the World Championships, BAM informed us that professionals cannot wear apparels from brands other than BAM's sponsors, if they want to train together on Wednesdays.
"I was really surprised by this, considering it was enforced amid the preparations for the World Championships.
"Since December last year, BAM has invited Lee Zii Jia (and other top independent players) to train with national players every Wednesday, and we are honored to be able to achieve a win-win situation, including helping the BAM raise their level.
"This sponsorship conflict is not only BAM's consideration, it also affects our team, which not only consists Zii Jia, but our coaching staff, fitness and physio experts.
"Due to this, we were unable to fulfill the training invitation at ABM before flying to Denmark.
"When BAM insisted on this, while we are all preparing for a big competition, it personally felt like I was being bullied by those in power.
"BAM often says that it does not matter whether one is a national or professional player, because they are all Malaysians, and the glory is shared. But this rule does not reflect that common sense," lamented Tat Meng, who is a former BAM singles coach himself.
It remains to be seen how this latest "controversy" will be solved, but BAM's administrative director, Michelle Chai did try to explain the situation.
"Unfortunately, we are also contractually obliged to our partners to ensure the ABM is a "clean" site. Failure on our end to ensure this would be seen as a contractual breach, which eventually may affect our ability to support our own players.
"The professional players can still use their personal sponsors' footwear and equipment, but it's only the apparels which need to either be a non-competing brand or brand-less.
"We issued the directive to all the professional players, coaches and officials, and even offered several options to go about this," Michelle said when contacted.
Apart from Zii Jia, the other notable professionals who have been training once a week at ABM are two-time former world junior champion, Goh Jin Wei, world No. 8 men's doubles Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, and mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai.
This issue, if not checked, could be a major problem even after the world meet, as the next big assignment for the Malaysian players, including the professionals, is the Hangzhou Asian Games next month.