KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Paralympic Council has urged the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to “wake up” and seriously look into the development of para-badminton players for the council.
Speaking to Scoop, the council’s president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman said that despite BAM having a special committee to nurture para-athlete talents, the committee has not been receiving financial support from its leadership to execute its initiatives.
“One of the reasons why we don’t have many shuttlers in our Paralympics camp is because BAM is not taking the development of para-shuttlers seriously.
“Scouting and developing para-badminton talents is BAM’s responsibility, and they have a special committee led by Dr Naharuddin Hashim. However, BAM has not been supporting the Paralympic committee in planning and executing their initiatives.
“We have been working with the Para-Badminton World Federation to develop players for Malaysia’s representation in the Paralympics and the Para-Asian Games, and we have produced up to nine to 15 para-shuttlers so far.
“BAM should be helping us find and nurture talents, not the other way around,” said Megat.
Megat also expressed his hope for BAM to collaborate and support his council, as it has already prepared the groundwork for the development of para-badminton in Malaysia.
“BAM is always busy taking care of their able-bodied athletes, and it’s sad to see the treatment given to para-athletes.
“I challenge anyone to ask any of our para-shuttlers whether they are proud of BAM’s initiatives, and their immediate answer will be ‘no’ as they don’t feel that they belong or can relate to BAM.
“We at (the Paralympic Council) have already prepared the (talent scouts) and the blueprints, and all BAM has to do right now is just to work together with us.But we can’t keep doing this all the time, and it’s not fair for BAM to take the name and glory whenever our shuttlers do well in tournaments.
“BAM has to work together with us to find more talents for para-badminton in Malaysia,” Megat added.
Cheah Liek Hou became the first Malaysian to win badminton gold at an Olympic-level tournament after emerging triumphant in the men’s singles SU5 at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
On the other hand, able-bodied athletes have not achieved any gold medals in badminton at the Olympics.
Cheah, recently honoured with the Best Para-Athlete award at the SAM-100Plus awards in August, has claimed a total of six medals – four gold and two bronze – in both the men’s singles and doubles categories since his debut at the Para-Asian Games in 2010. – October 21, 2023