KUALA LUMPUR – Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) coaching director Rexy Mainaky has warned the national women’s singles shuttlers to stop complaining and get to work if they want to achieve success in their careers.
Rexy’s comments came after there was no participation from the players under the national setup in this year’s Malaysia Open 1000 series.
The only Malaysian representative in the women’s singles this year was independent player Goh Jin Wei, who ended her campaign in the first round after losing to India’s Malvika Bansod 21-15, 21-16 in a 45-minute match.
Rexy said that if the women’s singles players do not improve their attitude in the future, they will be overshadowed by the junior European and Asian shuttlers, who have already shown significant progress in their gameplay.
Players such as South Korea’s An Se-young and China’s Wang Zhi Yi, who are both still in their early 20s, have proven their mettle on the world stage with stellar performances over the years. Both players are ranked in the top two in the world and have a combined total of 31 BWF World Tour titles under their belts.
They will face off in the women’s singles final at the Malaysia Open at Axiata Arena later today.
The current women’s singles players at ABM include Wong Ling Ching, Ung Yi Xing, Siti Nurshuhaini Azman, and K. Letshanaa.
“It’s not a good sign when we look at the progress of our women’s singles players, as they are lacking the hunger and desire to improve. They remain stagnant while their competitors have made progress over the years.
“The players tend to complain when we give them intensive training, and until they change this attitude, it will be very difficult for us to see a strong player emerge and start winning for the country.
“For example, I’ve received reports from our coaches that when they train players like Letshanaa with intensive sessions, she tends to make a lot of excuses about experiencing pain here and there.
“I’m not saying that our players aren’t technically gifted – they have everything it takes in their game, but they won’t be able to progress until they stop complaining and start working even harder.
“To be honest, we at ABM are very lenient with these players. Imagine if they behaved this way at other foreign academies – they would have been expelled without hesitation. I hope that by the end of this year, we will see progress both in terms of attitude and results from our players.
“I also hope to see our ABM players pushing themselves and earning a spot to compete in the Malaysia Open,” Rexy said during a post-match conference last night.
At last year’s Paris Olympics, Malaysia was represented in the women’s singles event by independent player Jin Wei, who unfortunately did not progress past the group stage after losing to world number 20 Kim Ga-eun.
Notably, no Malaysian player has advanced to the last 16 in the women’s singles event since the round-robin stage was introduced at the London 2012 Olympics.
The best Olympic performance by a Malaysian women’s singles shuttler remains Datin Wong Mew Choo’s quarter-final appearance at the Beijing 2008 Games. – January 12, 2024