Hafiz eager to guide juniors under his wings
PETALING JAYA: Mohd Hafiz Hashim is all pumped up about becoming the new national junior coach.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have offered the 35-year-old Hafiz the job of coaching Form Four and Form Five singles players under the junior programme at Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara.
“I’m ready to become a coach with the national team. It’s an honour to groom the future generation of players,” said the 2003 AllEngland champion.
Hafiz is expected to start work with head coach Kwan Yoke Meng when all the juniors at the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) move their base to ABM in January.
Hafiz was initially seen as one of the candidates for the national women’s singles coach, but BAM decided that it would be best for Hafiz to share his knowledge with the juniors.
And he is relishing taking on the coaching job as his way of giving back to the country.
“I was a national player for a long time (2000-2012). It just seems natural to move into coaching. I’m all ready to transfer my knowledge to the young players,” he said.
Hafiz, who won the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games men’s singles gold medal, retired from the national team in 2011.
He then turned professional for a while before focusing on coaching the juniors under the Hashim Badminton Academy which was established a year ago.
“My twin brothers – Hafizi and Hafifi – are handling this academy and I’ve been assisting them. They have branches in Kelantan and also here in Shah Alam and Kota Damansara,” he said.
“They will continue with the junior programme in the academy and I will now focus on grooming the juniors in BAM.
“The main task is to prepare a good team for the World Junior Championships in Canada next year. I’ll work closely with Yoke Meng to groom these juniors.”
Hafiz was happy to see the progress and changes in the BAM.
“When I left, the juniors and seniors trained separately. Now everyone will stay and train together under one roof. That’s awesome," said Hafiz, who thanked the BAM for the opportunity to serve with the national team again.