Frost has positive impact on Malaysian badminton — BAM

0
Goh Jin Wei

Goh Jin Wei

KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) sees the p resence of Morten Frost Hansen as giving a new lease of life to Malaysia’s badminton arena which was previously in a worrying situation.

The positive impact could especially be seen in the emergence and improved performance of the women’s singles players like Goh Jin Wei, doubles players Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fei Choo and the mixed doubles pair of Chan Pen Soon/Goh Liu Ying.

BAM deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said he was satisfied and had confidence in Frost as BAM technical director, especially for the five-year plan to the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

Frost who was BAM director of training from 1997-2000, took up his new post on March 1, this year and is on contract with the National Sports Council until Dec 31, 2020.

“So far, the BAM is satisfied with Frost’s achievement. Under the five-year plan, we want Malaysia to be in the top three in world badminton.

“BAM sees Frost’s presence as producing results, where Goh Jin Wei, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s performance have shot up. The national women’s squad and the mixed doubles have also improved,” said Mohamad Norza when contacted by Bernama, here, yesterday.

He said BAM, however, had to accept the reality that the overall performance of the men’s singles and doubles players had not reached the desired level yet.

Mohamad Norza said Frost’s presence did not mean that the national badminton squad had to solely depend on him, because BAM had also brought in Kwan Yoke Meng as the Bukit Jalil Sports School (SSBJ) Project director, Cheah Soon Kit as the national doubles coach and Indra Wijaya as singles coach.

“BAM together with Frost have also widened the search for new talents by boosting the current development plan, particularly at the state level, as well as the programme at SSBJ in order to consistently produce world-class players,” he said.

National singles shuttler, Iskandar Zulkarnain said the changes made by Frost had positively impacted his play throughout 2015.

He said initially, he felt some pressure over certain matters pertaining to the management of players but the presence of the former Danish badminton ace gradually brought changes that he welcomed.

Iskandar, who is placed under Indonesian coach, Hendrawan, said with the changes, he needed not think about management matters but could instead fully focus on training and the badminton championships he participated in.

“I personally feel there has been gradual improvement. Everything has been happening in a more organised manner,” he said.

Iskandar who was seen to be in the doldrums before this, bounced back, emerging as champion in a number of tournaments including the Singapore Open, Poland Open, Switzerland Open and the National Grand Prix Final in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The 24-year-old shuttler said, with his best performance this year, he hoped to shoulder the national challenge of competing in the next Thomas Cup if given the opportunity to represent the country. — Bernama