The only thing that has seen changes as so far as the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is concerned is the newly paved road leading up to their headquarters at Bukit Kiara.
Gone is the bumpy ride but that was soon replaced with goose bumps when the BAM Exco meeting was over.
For the past week I have avoided commentating on BAM, leaving it to the wisdom of the main stream media. But I was startled when I heard that some members of the main stream media were threatened with legal action by two senior officials on what they had written.
Several media personalities I spoke to confirmed the threats, but I admire their guts for standing up to these personalities, letting their opinions be the judge of what reality is. I have always advocated that national associations should engage the media, but alas a threat is not the way.
Coming back to the Exco Meeting, as revealed by this blog two weeks ago, Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong will not be split, and that was the case as the Exco has now decided to keep the pair together until the World Championships next year, thats one year longer that the pair will play together.
I wonder what happened to the heart to heart talk and the outcome that the duo were agreeable to be split for the interest of badminton.
Mind you BAM President, as can be seen from the video above has made it clear that the pair remains as its their wish to stick together. And BAM has set a place in the final of World Champs as a pre-condition. Another silly target given that the duo were finalists in the 2010 World Championships.
There was tension in the air when the issue of the Ng sisters - Hui Lin/Hui Ern was brought up as to why being fulltime students they were still in the national team, enjoying the benefits when other professional players were left to fend for themselves.
Senator V. Subramanian, the Selangor BA President and a member of the EXCO admitted that it was a mistake of the part of BAM and the Exco assumed responsibility and such practices will be put to a stop right away. A bold statement indeed but then again will it be executed?
Dato Nadzmi also clarified that he never said that World Junior Champion Zulfadli Zulkifli was out of the 2016 Project Squad, but once again stopped short of saying that the youngster was in.
A Project Manager, to oversee three special Olympic projects, namely the 2016,2020 and 2024 will be appointed but when asked the time frame as to when, it was once again met with a stony silence and all those at the main table could not come out with an answer that made sense.
Only one thing was certain, that it will be a Malaysian- no advertising but head hunting is what BAM will do, and importantly the person needs strong administrative skills - perhaps BAM is admitting that their current administration is not up to expectations.
Then we have three head coaches appointed - Rashid Sidek ( mens singles ), Wong Tat Meng ( women singles) and Tan Kim Her ( overall doubles ) thus making Rosman Razak the shortest ever Women Doubles head coach.
If there is one significant change, then it has to be that the Coaching and Training Committee wields more power then the Exco.
God help our badminton.
