KUALA LUMPUR: It's not as backbreaking as national badminton players think. For they are well conditioned to play back-to-back tournaments, said BAM high performance director Dr Tim Jones.
He pointed out that world No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Thailand's world mixed doubles champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai have proved that they can still succeed amid a hectic schedule.
Jones feels that the shuttlers should not be too concerned about playing in too many back-to-back tournaments as they are well conditioned by specially planned programmes.
Recently, some of the national players claimed that competing in tournaments over consecutive weeks will affect their performance.
On Saturday, Malaysia's interest in the Singapore Open came to an end in the semi-finals with independent mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai losing narrowly to Dechapol-Sapsiree in the semi-finals.
The world No 2 Thai pair went on to beat China's third seeds Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping 21-12, 21-17 for the title yesterday.
"I don't think playing back-to-back tournaments is a problem. There should be no excuse if the players are under a proper training programme and are well conditioned," said Jones.
"Look at Axelsen and the Thai mixed pair doubles. They are still winning despite playing back-to-back tournaments.
"I think badminton players don't train as much in the past when they're playing in tournaments. Those days are gone.
"Right now, with the support of the National Sports Institute staff at tournaments, we are working on ways to make sure the players are constantly training even when away at tournaments.
"Once the body adapts to this high intensity training, it should not feel tired from playing in many tournaments," said Jones.
The 40-year sports science expert is currently working on training programmes for players like national men's singles Ng Tze Yong and women's doubles Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing for them to have a good start when the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers kick off in May, 2023.
Jones sees the postponement of the Hangzhou Asian Games (from September to next year) as a blessing in disguise for the players to have a break from competition, and allowing them to focus on training and conditioning.
"The next big event is the World Championships in Tokyo next month, but after that there should be a quiet period of about five weeks because the Asian Games have been postponed.
"This is a good opportunity for us to plan the programmes and have the players focus more on their training and conditioning as we gear them up for the coming year.
"We don't have the 2023 BWF calendar yet, but it's very likely that the Sea Games (Cambodia) and the Sudirman Cup (Suzhou) might clash as it did with the Sea Games and the Thomas and Uber Cups this year.
"If that is the case, then we will need to plan and strategise our players accordingly," added Jones.