BAM apologises for disappointment in World Championships

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) was disappointed with the results of Malaysian shuttlers at the BWF Badminton World Championships which ended here on Sunday.

BAM Deputy President Datuk Mohamad Norza said the performance shown by the National squad here was disappointing since Malaysia has failed to win a world title since the inception of the tournament in Malmo, Sweden back in 1977.

"I am disappointed because we have failed to end a 37-year drought in the championships. However, I sympathize for Chong Wei who tried his best to win the title but lost to Chen Long of China in the men's singles final," he said here on Sunday after watching the final between Chong Wei and Chen Long at the Ballerup Super Arena.

"I would also like to apologize to the people of Malaysia because we ended up with only a runner-up spot on a day when Malaysians celebrated Independence Day today."

Except for Chong Wei, the rest of the shuttlers in the team that travelled to Denmark, were booted out in the early stages.

Norza said the BAM would double its efforts to expose more back up squad players who would later take over from the seniors, once they retired and continue contributing titles just like Chong Wei.

However, the BAM cannot depend on Chong Wei alone and need to find his replacement soon.

"It is a must to find Chong Wei's successor soon. They must be exposed and moulded to take over. We must also continue our development programmes," he said.

Meanwhile, the success of Spain's Carolina Marin who caused a major upset by defeating defending Olympic gold medallist and World number one Li Xuerui of China 17-21, 21-17, 21-18 in the women's singles, also caught the attention of Norza.

The next World Championships in 2015 will be hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta.