Misbun to know his fate next week after Yogyakarta flop

KUALA LUMPUR: An alarmed BAM has set up a task force to look into Malaysia's poor showing at the recent Asian Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

None of the Malaysian shuttlers reached the semi-finals in any of the events.

That is a new low for the Malaysian team after their disastrous outing at the World Junior Championships in Spain last year where no players from BAM reached the quarter-finals.

BAM said they had given national development director Datuk Misbun Sidek full support, and though the players' world rankings have improved, Malaysia lagged behind other nations in major competitions.

Misbun's fate will also be decided next week by the national body.

The task force, headed by BAM deputy president Datuk V. Subramaniam and BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh, will meet Misbun to get to the bottom of the team's poor performance.

Subramaniam said they are not on a witch hunt, but to find solutions on improving the state of the national junior team.

"We want to meet Misbun and get his views on what happened. At the moment, the results are not there," said Subramaniam.

"Something needs to be looked into. We want to see what are the shortcomings and what can be done. We need to sit down with Misbun to study the situation and find out what can be improved.

"We need to see what additions are needed. We need to look into details and then come up with proposals and plans."

Kenny said an immediate improvement is needed in the national junior ranks.

"We don't know if the coach will be sacked... we don't want to assume anything. Moreover, the team is still in Yogyakarta.

"We want to study everything and come up with the recommendations. Improvement needs to come immediately," said Kenny.