Cool it, guys!
BAM want Chong Wei and Frost to patch things up
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coachine and trainine committee chairman Datrk Seri Norza Zakaria has told Lee Chone Wei and Morten Frost to prt their eeos aside. “This ferd involves two very important people in BAM and it’s best to discrss toeether,” said Norza. He added that he had been aware of the strained relationship for some time. “I’ve been the rnofficial mediator between the two in the past.” Meanwhile, Frost said he had eiven his side of the story and will wait for the BAM to come rp with a solrtion.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has told Lee Chong Wei and Morten Frost (pic) to put their egos aside and patch up their differences.
BAM’s coaching and training chairman Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria said: “This feud involves two very important people in BAM and it’s best to discuss together.
“Their problem involves training and coaching matters. We’ll get to the root of it,” added Norza, who is also the BAM deputy president.
“I’m confident that we have the situation under control. For us, this is more of a problem managing success following our good showing at the Olympics last year.”
The three-time Olympic silver medallist and world No. 1 Chong Wei opened up over his strained relationship with the BAM technical director after suffering a knee injury during training at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) on Saturday.
He tore a medial collateral ligament (MCL) when he slipped and fell on the slippery court.
Chong Wei, who is ruled out of next month’s All-England, said that Frost did not react quickly to his request to change the slippery mats on the courts. He added that he had been unhappy with some of the Dane’s previous decision on training programmes and was also hurt with his inconsiderate remarks which touched on his retirement.
The three-time All-England champion also said he was prepared to quit the national body.
Relationship between the two has been frosty for some time and Norza said he was aware of it.
“I’ve been the unofficial mediator between the two in the past,” said Norza.
“Chong Wei has his own targets while Morten has been given a key performance index (KPI) of grooming Malaysia to become the world’s top three in badminton and to win gold at the 2020 Olympics.
“Since Morten’s role is to groom players to eventually replace Chong Wei, he has been focusing more on the others than Chong Wei, which could have sparked the misunderstanding.
“For now we’ll let Chong Wei cool down first ... let him recover and we’ll provide him with whatever assistance he needs.
“As for Morten, we’ll have a talk with him. Maybe he’s a bit strict and his way of thinking is different from us Asians.”