National shuttlers from BAM and professionals may train together from early next year to boost competitiveness, says Youth and Sports Minister
KUALA LUMPUR: The Road to Gold Committee has proposed joint training sessions between Badminton Association of Malaysia players and professional shuttlers starting early next year.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said the initiative aims to enhance competitiveness among national athletes.
“If we don’t let them spar together, I feel that they will be lacking in competitiveness,” she told a media conference after witnessing a sponsorship signing between the National Sports Council and Corporate Hero Century Sdn Bhd.
She noted that players from both groups have similar rankings, making joint training beneficial.
The RTG committee is preparing the training ecosystem and discussing with BAM to reserve special courts for these sessions.
BAM shuttlers include men’s doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun.
Women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei also train under BAM.
Professional shuttlers in the RTG programme include men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie.
Hannah also thanked PACE for supplying 1,000 sets of sports attire to national athletes for one year. – Bernama
