HOPEFUL BATCH: The youngsters waiting for their turns to play in the Astro Kasih Badminton Camp tryout at Arena Sukan yesterday.
KUCHING: Fifty young shuttlers will take part in today’s final tryout of the Astro Kasih Badminton Camp Sarawak at Arena Sukan, Simpang Tiga in the hope of securing some of the 60 spots available in the national selection.
They were among the 298 youngsters aged between 10 and 12 years from Kuching and Miri who turned up yesterday for the tryout session here.
The tryout session was conducted by Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) head coach for the programme Muhtashan Katan who was assisted by 10 coaches from BAM and Sarawak.
Sarawak is one of the six states selected by Astro for the programme and it is the third stop after the Melaka and Pahang tryouts where about 500 children took part. After Sarawak, Astro Kasih Badminton Camp will move to Sabah, Penang and Kuala Lumpur.
The programme is a joint effort between Astro Kasih, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of Astro, and the Nippon Badminton Association, a youth development programme in Japan that aims to identify and nurture talented young children.
From the 60 players who will undergo an intensive training in Kuala Lumpur, only 30 will be selected for the Malaysian contingent that will undergo further training for two weeks and a friendly match with Japan’s Kanto Junior team at the Ajinomoto National Training Centre in Tokyo.