There is a cold war between Badminton Association of Malaysia and Badminton World Federation which has its headquarters right here in Kuala Lumpur, one corner of the KLBA stadium to be precise.
And the war has somewhat to do with the decision of the world body not to list the Malaysian Open as one of the Premier Series events from next year.
In a way the cold war has affected the re-location of the BWF office, from the present site, where their rental has been increased three-fold, to a much better location.
Though neither party was willing to talk about it, several meetings on this issue were postponed at the very last minute.
For those in the dark, the list of the events selected for the Super Premier Series was revealed a week after the Thomas/Uber Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur in May.
The tournaments elevated in status were Korean Open, All England, Indonesian Open, Denmark Open and China Open.
And the Korean BA submitted an impressive bid, with prize money totalling USD1.2 million whereas BAM, rocked by an internal crisis merely completed the questionaire sent out by BWF and had not lobbied for the event to be held in Malaysia despite having a member in the BWF Council.
BAM it is learnt has sent a strongly worded letter to the world body, taking them to task for not selecting Malaysia as one of the Premier Series events.
Rather then appeal the decision, BAM opted the confrotational approach, well aware that it was due to their unability to do their homework that cost them the chance to be in the elite circle of world badminton.
What is more ironic is that only a year ago the BAM big wigs had openly campaigned against fellow Malaysian Dato Andrew Kam and instead thrown their weight behind the current president, who happens to be from South Korea.
All BWF needs is an excuse to take the HQ out from Malaysia and the fact that BAM has now latched on to NSC to prevent a move to a better location, will only expediate the departure of the HQ from Malaysia.
And ironically the same BAM officials who threw their weight behind the Korean seem to be saying that they were robbed by the Koreans as Malaysia missed out on a lucrative event.
