Soniia among five seniors axed by BAM after poor outing in Thailand

KUALA LUMPUR: The country's top women's singles shuttler Soniia Cheah and four other senior players have been dropped by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) following their poor performances at three tournaments in Thailand recently.

The others shown the exit by the BAM Coaching and Training (C&T) Committee are mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat, Shevon Lai and Lai Pei Jing as well as former Commonwealth Games women's doubles gold medallist Vivian Hoo.

BAM decided to release these players after a periodic review of Project 24, which is a strategic plan aimed at instilling a winning mentality and creating world beaters to help Malaysia win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics and enter the Thomas Cup finals.

Men’s singles shuttlers Ter Chun Long and Low Eu Cong, and men's doubles players Ching Kai Feng and Ooi Jhy Dar have also been dropped by the national body.

The committee also decided to promote Wyman Goh, Lee Shun Yang, Shaqeem Eiman (men’s singles), K. Letshanaa (women’s singles), Yap Roy King, Nurfirdaus Azman, Loo Bing Kun and Lwi Sheng Hao (men’s doubles) to the national back-up squad from their probation, BAM said in a statement today.

“Following the post-mortem conducted on the Asian leg of the BWF World Tour campaign in Bangkok, a detailed key performance index (KPI) has been tabulated and subsequently provided to the coaching team and players. Our sincere thanks to these players for their commitment, dedication and immense contribution to the country over the years...Best wishes and gratitude from BAM as they set on a new course in their careers.

“Shuttlers Tan Kian Meng (mixed doubles) and Yap Cheng Wen (women’s doubles) have been given a new opportunity to prove themselves with stern instructions to show rapid progress,” BAM said.

It said coaches particularly in men’s and women’s singles had been ordered to concentrate on improving the performances of their charges as another round of review would be conducted after the upcoming European circuit.

“With back-to-back tournaments next month in Europe that are pivotal in qualification for the Tokyo Olympics, the intensity of national training will be stepped up significantly, which includes significant mental training sessions for the players.

“The minute details of each training session will be closely monitored and recorded for examination and further review. Every personnel in the Sport Science Unit has also been given firm KPIs with the expectation that they are to work with more vigilance to generate the best results possible,” the statement added.

-- BERNAMA