Shuttlers to move into new multi-million home

KUALA LUMPUR: The national shuttlers will move to their new RM31mil “home” – the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) – soon.

The academy is expected to be ready next month and Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Tan Sri Mohd Al-Amin Abdul Majid is confident that they will churn out more new stars through the state-of-the-art academy.

“We will now be able to house all our junior and senior players under one roof. I am sure we will see many more new faces coming through this academy,” said Al-Amin.

The new building is adjacent to the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara. It has 18 carpeted courts and two of the courts are equipped with highspeed cameras to monitor and assess the players’ training sessions.

As the Juara Stadium also has 18 courts, the BAM can now have a total of 120 players in training daily.

The academy also has a hostel to accommodate 200 people. Currently, the senior shuttlers stay in Bukit Kiara while the juniors are based in Bukit Jalil.

“Players with quality throughout the country will be brought in to stay at the hostel. Everyone will be monitored under one roof ... this is a positive step for us to achieve greater success in future,” said Al-Amin.

He admitted that there were greater expectations on badminton following the team’s success in winning three silver medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

Lee Chong Wei (men’s singles), Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (men’s doubles) and Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles) were the contributors.

“We entered three out of five finals in Rio. The expectations will definitely be higher at the next Games (in Tokyo in 2020). People expect nothing less from badminton,” said Al-Amin, who was the chef de mission in Rio.

“We will have to do our best to meet the expectations. I believe we are heading in the right direction,” added Al-Amin during the OCMSports Toto Outstanding Athletes of the Games awards ceremony at the OCM Hall of Fame yesterday.