Kenny: BAM won’t rush the search for high performance director

PUTRAJAYA: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will bide their time to get the best man for the high performance director’s post for the national junior team.

BAM secretary Datuk Kenny Goh said the national body have yet to approach anyone and are still in the initial process of identifying the candidates.

“We’re still looking around, nothing has been decided yet,” said Kenny, after witnessing Putrajaya BA seal a two-year contract extension deal worth RM80,000 with equipment manufacturer FELET yesterday.

“We will not give ourselves unnecessary pressure by setting a deadline for the appointment.

“We want to really make sure we get the best person for the job. So there’s no hurry.”

Former internationals Datuk Razif Sidek and Ong Ewe Hock are among those who are interested in returning to the BAM and take up the challenge to revive the dwindling fortunes of Malaysian badminton.

However, Kenny said the BAM are not limiting their search to just within the country.

“We’re happy to know that there are many former players who have offered to help, we’re grateful for that,” said Kenny.

“But we’re keeping our options open. It could be a local or foreigner. We are also assessing some candidates within the current set-up.”

If the BAM are indeed eyeing a foreign talent, it remains to be seen if they could lure any high-profile coaches as most of them are currently attached to national teams as they gear up for the Tokyo Olympics next year.

It would also take a lucrative offer to tempt them to join the BAM.

Although there’s no deadline set, the BAM will most likely try to sort things out by the end of the year. This is to ensure the junior programme can take off together with the Project ‘24 next January.

Last week, the BAM announced that they were in search of a supremo to revive their junior programme following Malaysia’s poor showing at the World Junior Championships in Russia and Asian Junior Championships in China.

The existing BJSS set-up has two departments – the Under18 and Under-15 – and are headed by Kwan Yoke Meng and Mohd Hafiz Hashim respectively.