Former Malaysia Open winner James Chua.
KUCHING (July 7): Sarawak’s former international shuttler, James Chua, has reached another milestone in his coaching career when he was appointed as Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) women’s singles coach.
The 43-year old former Malaysian Open champion from here also is the first Sarawakian to be appointed as a national coach.
Chua is also one of the Sukma men’s singles champions who bagged the title at Sukma Selangor in 1998, the other being Pei Wee Chung in Sukma Sarawak in 1992.
“I am very happy and honoured to be appointed to this post by BAM and it is a very challenging job for me. But I am ready to take up this challenge.
“I am hoping to bring our women’s singles players to a higher level,” Chua, who will be based in Kuala Lumpur and officially start work on July 18, told The Borneo Post.
His appointment was confirmed by BAM high performance director Dr Tim Jones on Monday.
“Yes, James will be joining BAM and the decision was made based on several key areas.
“I like to have a blend of coaching experience, and James has that, as he was attached with the BWF Training Centre in Germany in 2009,” Jones told New Straits Times.
Chua, who attained Sports Science Level l certification in 2021, will oversee the careers of notable players like 2019 SEA Games champion S Kisona, Eoon Qi Xuan, Myisha Khairul, Siti Nurushuhaini Azman and Lee Zhing Yi.
Prior to this, Chua was attached with Sarawak Badminton Association as a coach and also as a team manager.
He was also attached with the Sarawak Sports Corporation Junior Development Programme as elite coach from Oct 2020 to Dec 2021.
Chua was a coach for the Private Badminton Academy (Kepong BC) from 2009 to 2013 and head coach for the Powerful Badminton Club from 2010 to 2012 and the Kepong Badminton Club for the Malaysian Purple League from 2015 to 2016.