Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek
PETALING JAYA: Right decisions will take Malaysian badminton far.
But this is where the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are lacking, according to Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek.
Jalani, who had been part of a legendary men’s doubles partnership with his brother Razif, believed that the national body erred when they dismissed his brother Misbun from his position as junior development director.
The national body parted ways with Misbun on Friday, saying that he was responsible for the lack of results in the Asian Junior meet recently as none made it beyond the quarter-finals.
“I’m sad because BAM did not value Misbun’s hard work and sacrifice,” said Jalani, who is also a member of BAM’s technical advisory panel.
“He used to be at the top as men’s singles head coach but he was willing to come down to help with developing junior players.
“Some of the youth players may not be champions now, but they might be in the future. This is where the players equip themselves with a solid foundation so that they can come good later on.”
He said the problem arises when netizens criticise the national team on social media, and those at the top react by making unwise decisions.
“The management only want publicity when the players win. But when they lose, they don’t want to accept the reality that we are far behind in terms of development.
“The truth is development takes time. The least coaches can do is to identify potential successors to replace the current top players.
“The coaches will need strong backing from the association to succeed. To be honest we have the quantity but not the quality.
“If we manage to produce one good player out of 10, that’s quite an achievement already.”
Jalani also denied that he was opposing BAM but was simply speaking out in good intention to see the progress of badminton.
“I never spoke out before this because I don’t want to sound like I’m opposing BAM,” said Jalani.
“But that’s not true. I still support our badminton wholeheartedly.”
