Five-star rating for badminton and squash

Badminton and squash retain SCO’s five-star recognition

RACQUET sports in Malaysia are set to continue to shine after the BA of Malaysia (BAM) and the Squash Racquet Association of Malaysia (SRAM) successfully retained their five-star rating by the Malaysian Sports Commissioner’s Office (SCO) for 2018.

BAM are motivated to keep producing top class athletes. According to BAM president, Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria, building an institution has been his main priority since taking over the top position.

“BAM is known nationwide to have produced top players like Lee Chong Wei and a few others who have made Malaysia proud at the highest level, like the Olympic Games,” said Norza.

Norza said BAM have put in place a systematic process to build a high performance ecosystem for the sport to continue excelling.

“My vision and mission is to see this institution continue producing world class players consistently,” added Norza.

The assessment by the Sport’s Commissioner is based on points given for good management, finance, athletes’ achievements, officials’ achievements as well as timely handing over of compulsory documents such as the Annual General Meeting (AGM) agenda, meeting minutes, activity reports and audited accounts.

BAM retained their five-star rating after obtaining the same amount of points from the previous assessment in 2017.

Since badminton was introduced at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Malaysia have won eight medals. Six silver medals and two bronze clearly show that Malaysia are doing well in the sport.

Meanwhile, Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia’s (SRAM) stringent internal controls have again seen them being awarded a five-star rating by the SCO,

SRAM president Nik Razeen Daud, who took the reins of the national body last year, credited his predecessors for setting in place strong internal governance from the onset.

“SCO goes through our procedures, accounts and staff in September each year,” said Razeen.

“This is the third or fourth year in a row that we have been given a five-star rating from SCO which is recognition of the good governance that we have in place.

“Our committee is committed toward improving governance all the time, we practice proper procurement procedures and have very, very good staff which is a big plus for us.

“We have always had external auditors who go through our accounts every year and that definitely helps to maintain check and balance.”

Razeen added that SRAM will continue to use the services of external auditors in the future.