Dominic Lim (seated fourth left) with (from third left) Roslin, Abdul Latif, Zakry in a group photo with PBM coaches and trainees before the sparring session.
KUCHING: Pacific Badminton Management (PBM) shuttlers have gained winning benefits from a sparring session with two former national players Mohammad Roslin Hashim and Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif.
Roslin, the former All-England singles champion and national number two, and Zakry, a former doubles player, were in town recently for the launching of Akademi Badminton 1Malaysia (AB1M) at Persatuan Badminton Bumiputera Negeri Sarawak (PBBS) hall in Semariang last Sunday.
“Yes, our trainees especially the elite group, have certainly learned much from the duo in the sparring,” said PBM director and owner Dominic Lim.
They include Syafiq Azhar Haizan, Brian Kho, Owen Ting and Stanley Chiong who will be competing in the AirAsia tournament in Petaling Jaya from Nov 27-29.
“I believe the four will be more equipped and ready for the challenge in this big tournament that has received more than 500 entries,” said Dominic.
They will play in the singles and doubles, with Syafiq partnering Brian while Owen will team up with Stanley. Syafiq and Brian are also part of the Sarawak team that will compete at the National Junior Inter-Team competition for U15 and U12 in Johor from Dec 9-13.
Dominic said his trainees had learned two incisive principles in badminton from sparring with Roslin and Zakry – do not move before they hit the shuttle and do not simply attack them – as they are very crafty and defensive players.
More importantly, his players had made good the chance to spar with the duo as it was not easy to get them to come to his academy for the sparring and sharing session.
“I personally know them and this is the fifth time they have visited our academy for sparring sessions with our players,” said Lim, adding that Roslin and Zakry were here for four times before. “They have been very helpful.”
PBM presently has 21 active trainees who train for five times a week while the rest of the players train on weekends.
This year, the academy celebrated its 10th year anniversary, with Penang State Sports Council director Frederick Tan joining them in the celebration on Feb 21.
Frederick is the former head of the National Sports Institute Satellite Centre Sarawak and a sports psychologist.