Datuk Razif Sidek
KUALA LUMPUR: The successor to Tan Bin Shen as the national men’s doubles coach must possess the ‘Midas touch’ to secure the elusive Olympic gold for Malaysia at Los Angeles 2028 (LA28), said former national badminton great Datuk Razif Sidek.
Razif said Bin Shen had proven his worth and it is now incumbent on the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to find a coach who could match or even surpass his achievements.
"We have to thank Bin Shen for his good work, including raising the world rankings of our players," said Razif.
"Now BAM have no choice but to find a better coach. It doesn't matter which country the coach is from, as our ultimate aim is to clinch gold at the 2028 Olympic Games.
Last Friday, BAM announced that Bin Shen will resign on Jan 13 after serving the national body since December 2020.
Former international Bin Shen played an instrumental role in raising the standard of several men's doubles pairs, including helping Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik secure Malaysia’s first-ever world title in 2022.
The 40-year-old would be joining the Hong Kong national team coaching stable under former world number one Wong Choong Hann in February, alongside two other Malaysians, Jeremy Gan and Loh Wei Sheng.
Razif declined to name his preferred candidate for the national men’s doubles coaching job, stressing that what is important is building trust between the new coach, the players and BAM management.
Meanwhile, former national men’s doubles shuttler Koo Kien Keat said the departure of local coaches to pursue glory on foreign soil is somewhat ‘funny’.
The 2006 Asian Games gold medallist was perplexed as to why BAM seemed to prioritise foreign coaches rather than appointing former national badminton legends to hold the fort at the Academy Badminton Malaysia, Bukit Kiara.
Based on the current coaching set-up, Rosman Razak is the only Malaysian head coach, guiding the women’s doubles players, while the others are foreign coaches, namely Denmark’s Kenneth Jonassen (singles) and Nova Widianto of Indonesia (mixed doubles).
Among Malaysian coaches serving foreign teams are Lee Wan Wah in Japan, Wong Pei Tty in Singapore, and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin in Ireland. - Bernama
