THE BAM are known to practise diplomacy when it comes to dealing with badminton coaches but they have now broken away from that tradition.
It appears BAM have made a hasty decision in axing their long serving coaches, Tey Seu Bock (women’s singles chief) and Rosman Razak (women’s doubles).
BAM’s priority should be on preparing the players for the Tokyo Olympics, which is less than eight months away, instead of doing away with the two coaches.
Instead of being saddled with the task of looking for replacements for Seu Bock and Rosman at this juncture, BAM should have decided on the duo’s positions after the Tokyo Olympics.
Do BAM have a succession plan when they made it known that Seu Bock and Rosman’s days in BAM are numbered?
As it is, BAM have admitted that they have yet to identify any coaches capable of replacing Seu Bock and Rosman.
With the Olympic qualifying period entering its crucial period now, it is highly unlikely that BAM would be able to hire top calibre foreign coaches as they will be busy preparing their players.
Even if they are able to come to Malaysia to start work, there’s too little time for the new coaches to make significant progress in just eight months.
Malaysia’s Olympic medal chances in Tokyo were as good as gone when Chong Wei retired last year, leaving BAM to shift their focus, by another five years, to the Project 2024 team in the hunt for Olympic gold.
This is close to admitting that the funds and efforts spent on targeting gold in the 2020 Olympics will end in futility.
BAM’s over-dependence on Chong Wei is the reason for their pressent predicament. Chopping and changing coaches now would not change the national team’s fortunes.
Seu Bock, who is Lee Chong Wei’s former coach, has been part of BAM’s coaching staff since 2002 while Rosman has been loyal to the association since joining the national association as a junior player in 1992.
While performance, and not loyalty, should be given priority in assessing the coaches, BAM should take into account that Seu Bock and Rosman could still have something to offer in different roles.
Seu Bock would be better suited to assist Misbun Sidek in the men’s singles department or he could be handy to guide the junior singles players at Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM).
Rosman should be considered as the coach to guide the junior doubles players instead of showing him the door.
However, these changes should only take place after Tokyo 2020 and any plans for Project 2024 must start once the current Olympic cycle ends in August.
Misbun is known for his work with elite players, and he has turned players aged between 17 and 22 into world beaters. Chong Wei and former All England champion Hafiz Hashim were among his former students.
Now, asking Misbun to take charge of the junior squad consisting players as young as 13 doesn’t seem like making full use of his expertise.
Misbun, who is currently in charge of the national men’s singles players, should be set specific targets to achieve rather than demoting him as a junior coach.
Should BAM need a calibre women’s singles coach, they need not look further than Hendrawan who made a name for himself in this capacity with Indonesia before coming to Malaysia more than a decade ago.
Hendrawan’s future was in the balance after Chong Wei’s retirement last June but BAM gave him a new lease of life by putting him in charge of Lee Zii Jia, who later became a Sea Games champion.
It is certainly worth a shot in trying out Hendrawan as the women’s coach as he seems capable of helping Goh Jin Wei, Soniia Cheah and S. Kisona reach the next level.
Whatever changes that BAM want to do to the national coaching set-up, they should do it after Tokyo 2020.
