BAM coaching director Rexy Mainaky — RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian women's singles shuttlers have been in the doldrums for far too long and national coaching director Rexy Mainaky was in no mood to sugarcoat his general assessment of them.
He cited grumbling and making excuses as just two of the many factors holding back Malaysian women's singles shuttlers from going far and becoming world beaters.
Rexy revealed that there were even some women's singles shuttlers who complained of tiredness when undergoing training sessions at the ABM in Bukit Kiara here.
"They grumble a lot and say they are tired. However, we hope they realise that they won't achieve anything by grumbling.
"You must know the reason why you must continue to fight and how to get what you want. Instead, what do you do? Train a little and you already complain of pains and aches," he said on the sidelines of the 2025 Malaysian Open at the Axiata Arena here.
He added that if these players, armed with such an attitude, were playing for superpowers like China, Indonesia or Japan, they would have been expelled from the team.
Rexy urged the national shuttlers to emulate the feat of 21-year-old Thai ace Pornpicha Choeikeewong, who produced a sensation by ousting world number five Han Yue of China 18-21, 21-13, 21-19 to advance to the semi-finals.
What is frustrating is that the country's two singles players - Wong Ling Ching and K.Letshanaa, who did not get to compete in the home tournament - had defeated Pornpicha before but still find themselves way behind the standard set by the world number 44 Thai shuttler.
Rexy also urged them to take inspiration from the achievements of former ace Wong Mew Choo, who not only went toe-to-toe with the world's best but also created a sensation by becoming the only Malaysian woman shuttler to have won the China Open in the 2007 edition.
"However, this does not mean our women singles shuttlers are lacking in quality. It's just that they must be prepared to make sacrifices in their journey,” he said.
Commenting on the performances of the others in the Malaysian Open, Rexy said men's doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun failed to capitalise on their superiority in centre court to go down 26-24, 16-21, 15-21 to China's Chen Boyang-Liu Yi in Saturday's semi-finals.
As for Malaysia's top mixed doubles combination of Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, Rexy said their hasty pursuit of points contributed to their 19-21, 14-21 defeat by China's top-seeded Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping in the last four.
Rexy also admitted that two-time Olympic bronze medallist Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik did not play aggressively enough in the Super 1000 tournament, which resulted in them going down 14-21, 18-21 to Taiwan's Lee Fang-Chih-Lee Fang-Jen in the second round of the men's doubles event.
The Indonesian also acknowledged that men's singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao, despite giving his best, still has a lot of catching up to do after losing 17-21, 21-16, 13-21 to China's Lu Guangzu in their opening-round clash. - Bernama
