A harsh lesson

Zulfadli and Chun Seang in a fix – but they only have themselves to blame

WHEN I first interviewed Zulfadli Zulkiffli, he was terrorising the junior circuit with his exploits during the 2003-2005 era.

The independent shuttler (even then) was beating bigger boys in the Under-12 100Plus national junior circuit and making heads turn – and eventually his hard work paid off when he became the first Malaysian singles player to win the 2011 Asian and world junior titles.

What I remember about him is his humility and determination. He even saved money to buy shuttlecocks – those were the difficult times.

I know Tan Chun Seang (pic) as a player who always carries a big smile. He was playful and cheerful despite a rather challenging badminton life.

Plagued by injury, he was banned by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) for two years in 2009 for walking out from BAM just before the Laos SEA Games.

Three months later, the ban was lifted. In 2011, the 2010 Thomas Cupper decided to turn professional to seek greener pastures (he was only earning a RM1,300 monthly allowance then) but he was served another two-year ban. Last year, he turned to coaching in Melbourne.

Both Zulfadli and Chun Seang were good players, they were determined to excel during their younger days, worked hard and showed a positive attitude.

So, that’s why it’s so hard to accept that these boys are now facing 20 and 15-year career-ending bans respectively for match-fixing last Tuesday.

A two-year investigation by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) ended with the world body sourcing enough evidence between 2013 and 2016 to conclude that both had engaged in “actual and attempted matchand point-fixing and did so for the purposes of betting, based on fixed matches”.

They were fined US$25,000 (RM98,000) and US$15,000 (RM59,000) respectively. The bans cover administrative, coaching, officiating, or developmental functions.

There were several long WhatsApp text messages that implicated them and one can’t help but conclude that something fishy was indeed going on between them.

What had gone wrong? Has the lure of money sidetracked our promising player Zulfadli and cash-strapped Chun Seang from their goals of becoming world beaters?

Are there bigger fishes in the sea of greed, manipulation and lies? Are there many others like Zulfadli and Chun Seang?

The 25-year-old Zulfadli held a press conference on Friday, declaring his innocence and blaming the world body for making him a scapegoat.

Zulfadli had answers for every charge against him but sadly, they were not convincing enough.

He said his conversation with Chun Seang was linked to a game they played in a casino and sponsorship matters. Casino? That answer did not go down well at all.

Kento Momota of Japan was banned for a year for entering a casino in 2016! For Japan, the integrity of a player was more important that they were prepared to punish their top star and potential medallist Momota – just before the Rio Olympic Games.

Zulfadli may have sought sympathy by telling his side of the story.

He did get it from me but I was more grieved and saddened that the young boy that I liked and knew had thrown away a good future by making some wrong choices.

I had expected Zulfadli and Chun Seang to come clean with what had happened and appeal to the world body to reduce the ban.

BWF have done the right thing by punishing them harshly although I feel a shorter ban would have sent the same strong message across – that the world body do not compromise on match-fixing.

It’s still not too late for Zulfadli and Chun Seang to do the right thing – by admitting their mistakes and appeal for a reduced sentence.

After all, everyone deserves a second chance – more so if one is remorseful.