Youngsters dreaming to be the next Chong Wei
KOTA KINABALU: Badminton ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei is without a doubt a national hero, especially to youngsters.
It was no surprise then that hundreds of children turned up for the talent search programme Astro Kem Badminton in Sabah over the weekend.
I play badminton with my elder brother almost every evening after class. I am so glad to be here and get a chance to train with professional coaches.
Kamarul Izdani
These children aspire to be the next Chong Wei, the Malaysian badminton star who is one of the top world singles’ players and a triple Olympic silver medallist.
“I love badminton and I want to be like Chong Wei,” said 10-year-old Joshua Lim who was seen prepping for his turn to demonstrate his skills at the event on Saturday.
Amanda Justin, 11, said she admired Chong Wei’s amazing skills when he played at international matches.
Another hopeful, Kamarul Izdani, 11, said apart from Chong Wei, he was also in awe of other famous Malaysian names in the game like Rashid Sidek and his brother Datuk Misbun.
“I play badminton with my elder brother almost every evening after class.
“I am so glad to be here and get a chance to train with professional coaches,” he added.
Some 600 hopefuls turned up at the selection camp starting at 10.30am at Likas Sports Complex nearhere.
V.J. Veerasamy, who is in charge of media communications, said in a statement that the programme conducted by Astro Kasih since 2012 had seen over 15,000 children try their luck at badminton.
“Through the programme we have selected many talented children for further coaching to be trained as national and international players under several categories,” he said.
For this session, those who qualify for further training will get to be coached by Malaysian greats like Wong Choong Hann, Lee Wan Wah, Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng.
More information on this and other events can be found at www. astrokasih.org/ms/kem-badminton or Astro Kasih’s Facebook at www.facebook.com/myastrokasih.