Blast from the past: Mohd Hafiz Hashim in action during Petaling Jaya Badminton Club exhibition match together with Koo Kien Keat, Woon Khe Wei and Vivian Hoo.
PETALING JAYA: Former All-England champion Mohd Hafiz Hashim (pic) will be a good option for Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to consider as the head coach of the men’s singles department.
The BA of Malaysia are in the midst of finding suitable and calibre candidate following decisions to let long-serving coaches Hendrawan go and shifting Datuk Tey Seu Bock.
Hendrawan’s contract that ends in December this year has not been extended while Seu Bock will be moved to the junior side.
Both these coaches have been with BAM for more than a decade but the duo have been moved around numerous times and they’ve never had the same back-up players under their care for long stints.
Whenever the BA of Malaysia change the coaching and training structure, the coaches are given different set of players.
But now that BAM under coaching director Rexy Mainaky is looking at long-term stints, which will give coaches the time to nurture their players and meet realistic Key Performance Index (KPI) targets set for them.
And Hafiz could benefit from this arrangement.
Hafiz was with BAM under Datuk Misbun Sidek in the junior programme for four years before he took the challenge to coach players at the Suchitra Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, India in February, 2023.
It was a bold move and the lanky and skilful Hafiz has gained invaluable experience since taking the plunge to improve himself as a coach.
While he had been focusing on seniors and juniors, Hafiz also had taken up short stint to coach India’s top women singles shuttler P.V. Sindhu, which is a plus to his coaching repertoire.
Hafiz, when contacted yesterday, was non-committal.
“I’m happy to stay in India right now. Of course, I will appreciate if the offer comes from the BA of Malaysia but I don’t think, they are looking for coaches like me,” said Hafiz.
“Malaysia will always be in my heart,” added Hafiz, who is grateful for coaching opportunity abroad as it gives him different goals to achieve with his players and also builds his career as a coach.
Rexy said he was looking for former world champions and coaches with credibility to strengthen his squad.
It’s unsure whether he will hire local or foreign coaches but whoever is selected, he or she will have a challenging task to turn four of their elite men’s singles shuttlers Ng Tze Yong, Leong Jun Hao, Justin Hoh and Eogene Ewe into reliable and consistent world beaters.
