Rashid's willingness to stay on hoped will result in gold medals

The willingness of Rashid Sidek to stay on as national badminton singles chief coach is hoped will result in gold medals in the men's singles competition at the Word Championship in Copenhagen this month and the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea next month.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the success of Malaysia's world number one men's singles player Datuk Lee Chong Wei very much depended on Rashid as his coach.

"I have spoken to him (Rashid) on the phone, he said he will stay to serve out his contract which ends at the end of the year," he told reporters after opening Kota Baharu Umno's Youth and Puteri wings' delegates meeting here on Friday.

Khairy, who is also Umno Youth chief, was commenting on the soured relationship between Rashid and the top leadership of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) which is feared will affect the national contingent's preparations for the two major meets.

Prior to this, newspapers has reported about the souring of relationship between Rashid and BAM president Tan Sri Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff which also caused the coached to be dropped from the national contingent headed to the World Championship (from Aug 25-31) and back up singles coach Hendrawan given the task of leading the team instead.

"We do not want Lee Chong Wei's preparations and mental strength affected because the coach has problems. I have asked Rashid and Lee Chong Wei to continue with their training," said Khairy, adding that he had also asked BAM deputy president Datuk Mohamad Norza Zakaria to resolve the problem.

Meanwhile, on the Olympic Council of Malaysia setting the quarter-final target for the national football team in order to be fully reimbursed on the cost of competing in the Asian Games, Khairy said he was of the view the move had its own rationale, that is for the team to achieve success.

"If we do not set high goals, the national team might feel they are just making up the numbers. So we give them this target, if they don't meet it, they will have to bear the cost of participation themselves. This is a new approach and gives fresh hopes," he said.