Reasons BAM shy away from host job
KUALA LUMPUR: The lack of potential winners in the national team was one of the reasons why Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) did not bid to host any major tournaments on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) calendar.
Last Thursday, BWF unveiled the hosts for the major events for the 2019-2025 cycle with top badminton nations – Malaysia and Indonesia – being the notable absentees in the list.
BWF’s major events include the World Championships as well as the team competitions such as the Thomas and Uber Cup and Sudirman Cup (mixed team).
BAM president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria (pic) said it’s not ideal for Malaysia to organise a major tournament when there’s hardly any potential winners from the host.
“It doesn’t make sense if we run big tournaments here and yet our players are not rising to the occasion,” he said after receiving a new 40-seater team bus sponsored by Bank Rakyat here yesterday.
“Every time we host a tournament, we want our players to perform well. Maybe in the next few years after building a very strong team, then we may consider bidding again.”
Norza was definitely spot on about national shuttlers failing to rise to the occasion on home soil.
At the 2013 Sudirman Cup which was the last major BWF tournament hosted in the country, Malaysia suffered an embarrassing group stage exit after going down to Germany in the deciding tie.
After winning the Thomas Cup on home soil in 1992, Malaysia hosted the tournament twice, but they have yet to repeat that success. In 2000, Malaysia did not even progress from the group stage and when the tournament returned to Kuala Lumpur in 2010, the host’s campaign ended in the semi-finals.
But the main reason BAM are not enthusiastic about bringing major badminton events to our shores is because of the belt-tightening exercise by the national body.
“As we are embarking on a lean and mean financial approach (in running BAM), we do not want to organise any tournament that doesn’t benefit us financially,” said Norza.
“After all, our core business is not to run tournaments, but rather to develop players and prepare the team for major assignments such as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“Instead of hosting big tournaments, we might as well invest our money into coaching and training.”
Meanwhile, Norza thanked Bank Rakyat for their vehicle sponsorship – a Scania bus worth RM250,000 – that would ease the BAM’s logistics needs.
“We’re pleased that Bank Rakyat has come on board to sponsor a team bus. Never in the history of BAM since 1964 that we have our own bus and we are thankful for that,” said Norza.
“By having our own bus, it would help us to save at least RM100,000 a year in logistics cost.
“The bus will be used to ferry the kids from Bukit Jalil Sports School to the Academy (Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara) for their daily training, and for the trips to airport whenever the national team go for their overseas assignments.”