KUALA LUMPUR – National mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto revealed that a shortage of female players in the national training camp had constrained the development of more mixed doubles players.
The Indonesian-born coach echoed the advice of former Olympian Chan Peng Soon, who urged the Badminton Association of Malaysia to strengthen the mixed doubles squad, rather than relegating it to an option for players who failed to excel in the singles or men’s and women’s doubles.
Currently, only Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei are ranked in the world’s top 10, while other teams from the national training camp lag significantly behind.
“What Peng Soon said the other day is true. Perhaps it’s time for us to groom the next mixed doubles pair for the national squad. However, to be honest, we don’t have many female players,” said Nova.
“In fact, even in women’s singles, our player pool is limited. Nevertheless, we can still strive to form two or three additional mixed doubles pairs.
“Hopefully, our senior players won’t announce retirement too soon, thus allowing Malaysia to have a stronger presence in this category.
“I agree with Peng Soon’s views and I hope that mixed doubles would be the next focus, given our history of winning Olympic medals in this category through Peng Soon,” Nova added.
Acknowledging the current situation, Nova revealed that he had to enlist several players to compete in multiple categories.
For example, Yap Roy King and Choong Hon Jian also juggle commitments in the men’s doubles to bolster the mixed doubles squad.
Despite the challenges, Nova stressed that fatigue was not a valid concern, citing international precedents where players routinely competed in multiple events.
“For young players, we let them compete in two events first so that they can gain more experience.
“I have communicated with (coaching director) Rexy (Mainaky). Some players we allow to compete in two events, but if there are players who can specialise in only one event, then we will continue to develop them in that direction.
“For example, Roy King and Hon Jian. We allow them to compete in two events, and I have also discussed this with the men’s team coach.
“For me, to say it’s tiring to compete in two events is not valid because our training is even more exhausting,” he added. – May 26, 2024