Badminton: Aaron won't play blame game

National men's doubles player Aaron Chia believes his teammates have given their best despite losing in the opening tie of the BAM Mixed Team Championship.

Yesterday, the Dominators went down 7-5 to Terminators, while Avengers edged Transformers 6-5.

Aaron, who captains the Dominators, did not blame any of his members for the defeat.

In fact, Aaron, who makes up the World No 9 pairing with Soh Wooi Yik, urged his younger teammates to enjoy themselves in the competition, and to cherish the atmosphere in these trying Covid-19 times.

"I'm not saying the tournament is not important but everyone has been put into different groups.

"I feel the junior players actually benefit more from this competition, so we're not too hard on them.

"Come to think of it, our juniors have had far fewer tournaments to play in this year.

"As team captain, I noticed some of them were a little tense when going up against the senior players earlier.

"After the tie I told them to take it easy. I want them to enjoy themselves. We still have two more ties to go, relax," Aaron said.

He pointed out that the evening training sessions have been going on as usual, even with the ongoing competition at the Academy Badminton Malaysia.

"The mixed team tournament is a great initiative by BAM to keep us on our feet. Each team consist of 31 players, and we also have supporters (juniors) during each tie.

"The atmosphere is nice, like a carnival for everyone."

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