Morten Frost Hansen resigns from BAM

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) today accepted the resignation of its technical director, Morten Frost Hansen, after a consensus was reached during the Coaching and Training (C T) Committee meeting.

BAM president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the association had received a six-month resignation notice from the four-time All England champion on Sept 11, citing personal reasons.

"BAM will meet and talk to him tomorrow to ensure it all ends well without any misunderstanding. We wish him all the best for his future endeavours, and we thank him for his service throughout his time here with BAM.

"He resigned on his own will...there was no pressure from BAM, so we have to continue our struggle as well. For now, BAM has no plans to replace Frost," he said after chairing CT Committee meeting today.

Following the resignation of Frost, known as 'Mr Badminton', his duties would be handled by head coaches Datuk Misbun Sidek (men's singles), Cheah Soon Kit (men's doubles), Tey Seu Bock (women's singles), Wong Pei Ty (women’s doubles) and Chin Eei Hui (mixed doubles), assisted by the C T Committee.

Frost became the technical director of BAM on Feb 23, 2015, signing a contract with the National Sports Council until Dec 31, 2020, and he had been BAM’s coaching director from 1997-2000.

Norza dismissed allegations that Frost's resignation was due to the poor performance of the national badminton squad at the Sudirman Cup, which saw them bow out in the quarter-finals to Japan in June, and an unconvincing display at the 29th SEA Games despite finishing with the set two gold-medal target.

Asked whether BAM would continue to use Frost's long-term sports development blueprint as a guide, Norza said the association would examine and discuss it further, adding that any plan set would be realistic in terms of achieving Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

"We have evaluated our level of achievement through the World Championships and the SEA Games. We are aware that there are weaknesses in the national badminton squad, so we need the commitment of coaches and trainers to improve," he said.

In another development, Norza also announced that national men's doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong would be split, and form two new pairings, whereby V Shem would partner Teo Ee Yi and Week Kiong would pair with Ong Yew Sin.

Norza said among other things discussed at the meeting was to review incentive packages given to coaches and players based on merit.

-- BERNAMA