Sole pair: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were the BAM representatives to win a medal at the Paris Olympics. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Changes are taking place now as shuttlers target gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
And players, coaches and management personnel will all have a say as the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) seek to review and make changes for the next Olympic cycle.
BAM will be working with Pemandu Associates headed by Datuk Seri Idris Jala from October to early December to come up with a new programme for the next four years.
In June, BAM had signed an agreement to collaborate with the private consulting firm until the end of this year.
One of the few main issues discussed will be the composition of the team and budget allocation towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
BAM’s head of administration Michelle Chai said that RM45mil was spent for the past four years for the 2024 Paris Olympics which exceeded the budget allocated which was RM35mil.
Men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were the only BAM representative to win a medal in Paris when they captured bronze.
Aaron-Wooi Yik also won bronze in the 2021 Tokyo Games.
“We spent RM45mil in the four years leading towards the Paris Olympics which exceeded our budget by RM10mil,” said Michelle.
“Out of this, 10% was government funding while the rest was from our private sponsors.
“For the next Olympic cycle, we want to come out with a workable budget to achieve our main goal which is to win the gold in 2028.
Along the way, we also want to be competitive in all the other tournaments.”
Players, coaches and key council members will be given the room to discuss new ideas and strategies to improve the current programme.
The key findings will be presented to the management consisting of BAM’s new interim president Datuk V. Subramaniam, secretary general Datuk Kenny Goh, and assistant secretary-general Mohd Taupik Haji Hussain and Michelle.
The discussions will be moderated by Pemandu and if the management give the nod to the changes proposed, the consulting firm will help to come up with an efficient way for the BAM to implement the new programme.
“Pemandu’s role is to moderate discussions between coaches, players and management and help us have a clear picture of how to implement new strategies,” said Michelle.
“Sometimes there are too many voices and some parties might not have a fair say. This way, everyone will be given equal opportunity to share their opinion and ideas.”
Meanwhile, as part of the changes, management personnel will also be set Key Performance Index (KPI) along with coaches and players.
“We will be setting KPI for the management as well as players and coaches and this will be revealed to the public,” said Michelle.
“Everyone needs to be accountable and the public needs to know the role of the management as well.”
