KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are looking at another coaching restructure in a move to achieve their objectives for next year.
This came after the national players ended a nine-tournament run, starting with the Sudirman Cup and ending with the World Championships, that was fraught with inconsistencies and fitness issues.
World No 7 Lee Zii Jia, for instance, started his run on a roll but his form tailed off towards the end as he struggled with a back injury.
The All-England champion's campaign at the World Championships in Huelva, Spain, was also cut short in the quarter-finals after suffering a blistered toe.
It was certainly a disappointing ending for the national players, and in stark contrast to the rise of the Penang-born Singaporean Loh Kean Yew who smashed his way to a historic World Championships title.
Besides Zii Jia, Olympic bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Swiss Open champions Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah also struggled to maintain a high standard.
BA of Malaysia (BAM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria said that a post-mortem will be conducted, and changes will be made.
"This year, we have been trying to streamline our players and push the younger players," said Norza today.
"Overall there has been progress but we still face inconsistencies and some of our players are lacking in terms of mental and physical aspects.
"We will conduct a post-mortem and there will be changes in the coaching structure after our coaching and training committee meeting next week.
"With the Asian and Commonwealth Games next year, these changes are necessary in relation to what we have been doing, which is to continue our efforts in fast-tracking the younger players. We don't want to be only relying on a small number of players at world tour level.
"Besides that, we also want to ensure that our support services look into the mental and physical strength of our players in order to rectify their weaknesses.
"We are confident that our young players will soon catch up but we also want to maintain a lean structure, especially in the face of budget cuts," said Norza.
Meanwhile BAM welcomed the association's new patron, Datin Seri Muhaini Zainal Abidin, to her first official visit at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) yesterday.
"It is the patron's first visit here and we introduced her to our facilities and briefed her in regard to our latest developments and our plans for next year," said Norza.
"She is impressed and has promised to support our objectives of targeting gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024."