BAM suspend junior shuttler for online gambling
KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has slapped a junior shuttler with three months’ suspension for being involved in internet gambling.
BAM president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) student had admitted the offence to the coach after facing debts about a month ago.
“Basically, it is more on prevention because we do not want our junior players to incur debts when they are under the BAM. We only gave a three-month suspension because the person had come forward and admitted his mistake,” he said after chairing a BAM Exco meeting at the Malaysia Badminton Academy, Bukit Kiara here yesterday.
Mohamad Norza said the focus of junior players must only be on their badminton career, as the BAM and the Ministry of Education are providing all the necessities, including a RM200 monthly allowance, food and lodging.
Norza said following the incident BAM would adopt a zero tolerance policy towards any kind of gambling and match fixing activities and also strengthen its policy and standard operating procedure (SOP) to combat such issues.
“We want them to stay out of any form of gambling, whether it is legal or illegal, involves badminton or not. This is one of my initiative when I took over BAM because I want to produce complete players, who are mentally and physically strong, and free from gambling and discipline issues.
“The new SOP will have new monitoring mechanisms and embedded with the player’s contract, so we would be able to identify and catch the culprits. We are also looking forward to sign the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission’s (MACC) Corruption-Free Pledge (IBR),” he said.
On other matters, Mohamad Norza said the Sarawak Badminton Association secretary, Abdul Hadi Datuk Kadir had briefed the exco on the proposal to build their own badminton academy in Kuching, after receiving commitment of the state government.
Meanwhile, the SEA Games squad had started to use the Axiata Arena (formerly known as Stadium Putra) at the Kuala Lumpur Sports City for court familiarisation since yesterday, he added.