KUALA LUMPUR: Women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah just didn't have the mental edge as they fell at the Kumamoto Masters yesterday. This has led to former BAM high-performance director Datuk James Selvaraj touching on the absence of an in-house sports psychologist.
Malaysia's world No. 7 pair were on the brink of victory, leading 19-15 in the rubber against Japanese Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto.
However, they couldn't clinch the match, losing 9-21, 21-14, 21-23 in an hour at the Kumamoto Prefecture Gymnasium in Japan.
"Pearly-Thinaah should have won. They needed only two points, but lost concentration.
"So this is where a sports psychologist comes in to help the players to be in the right frame of mind before they step onto the court.
"When you are playing an international tournament, everyone is on the same level, so the sports psychologist will be the one to build the players' confidence to give them the edge," James told Timesport today.
In the build-up to the Paris Olympics, BAM enlisted the services of sports psychologist Frederik Tan, and the result was there to be seen.
In their Olympic debut, Pearly-Thinaah created history by becoming the first Malaysian women's pair to reach the semi-finals.
Despite losing in the bronze medal playoff to Japan's Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida, the impact of Frederik's work was evident. However, he was not retained after the Paris Olympics.
Recently, national coaching director Rexy Mainaky admitted that BAM does not have a full-time in-house sports psychologist and it would be ideal to have one at the Academy Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara.