THE Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will send “quite a strong team” to the 2025 Thailand SEA Games.
BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said they already have specific criteria for player selection, although former SEA Games gold medallists like men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (2019) will not be listed this time.
“We will define what “quite strong” is later. (Previously, BAM would normally send young shuttlers) but I feel that the answer to that question is quite easy because there are not many major events (next year).
“We only have the SEA Games and our highlights are the Sudirman Cup and the World Championships in Paris. In our meeting earlier, we discussed plans for next year up to 2028 (Los Angeles) Olympics,” he said after the working committee meeting (JKK) at the National Sports Council in Bukit Jalil today.
Kenny, however, said BAM has yet to finalise the list of players nor discussed in detail medal targets for the biennial Games.
Malaysia last won SEA Games gold in badminton at the 2021 edition in Hanoi. At the 2023 edition in Phnom Penh, the national shuttlers could only return home with two silvers and four bronzes.
Kenny added that BAM not only discussed the psychological aspects at the meeting but also the role of the National Sports Institute (NSI) in providing sports science-related support.
He said BAM are happy, so far, with the allocation provided by the NSC, although he admitted that there are still some other matters that need further discussions.
