Players should be given warning before taking any action

KUALA LUMPUR:

Counsel ’em or ban ’em. That was the answer given by the Badminton Association of Malaysia ( BAM) shuttlers to the wide-ranging questionnaire regarding the association’s zero-tolerance campaign on gambling and smoking.

The questionnaire on gambling and smoking was distributed to all the junior and senior shuttlers at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) recently.

BAM general manager Michelle Chai (pic) said “we wanted to hear from the players themselves before outlining the rules”.

“The rules and disciplinary committee distributed the questionnaires,” said Michelle.

“The target of this exercise is not to catch the offenders, but to have a better idea on how prevalent are these habits.

“We asked them for their opinion on what should be done if one is addicted to gambling or smoking. I can conclude that most of them suggested counselling the players concerned.

“They said that the players should be given a warning before action is taken if the counselling doesn’t work. We respect their opinions and will draft our contract for the players accordingly.”

Michelle said that the BAM had carried out random tests to detect smokers in the national team this year.

“From next year onwards, all our shuttlers will have to go through a screening process before we accept them into the national team,” she said.

BAM announced in April that a few players had failed smoking tests while one junior shuttler from the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) was banned for three months for gambling this year.