KUALA LUMPUR: BAM has confirmed that it is in talks with Indonesian-born doubles legend Tony Gunawan for a coaching role, but insist the discussion between the two parties is still at a preliminary level.
Tony, 47, the 2000 Sydney Olympics gold medallist and two-time world champion, currently runs a badminton academy in the United States and is said to be keen on seeking a bigger challenge with national level coaching.
National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky revealed that Tony got in touch with him recently, which led to the latter expressing his interest in joining BAM.
Timesport had reported earlier this week that BAM had interviewed several candidates from Indonesia, the US and South Korea to fill the positions left vacant by several high profile coaches, particularly Flandy Limpele and Paulus Firman in the men's and mixed doubles respectively.
"Tony was my junior when we were with the Indonesian national team. He mentioned to me that he was looking for a bigger challenge after running a successful academy in the US," said Rexy.
"We have had discussions, but nothing has been finalised yet."
But it appears that BAM high-performance director Dr Tim Jones is a big fan of Tony.
When asked if Tony has what it takes to coach the national team without elite-level coaching experience, Jones replied: "That shouldn't be a problem. In fact, it's way more challenging to coach at junior level because you have to deal with players of different age groups and abilities.
"So, any academy coaches will actually find it easier to coach a senior team. After all, you will not be handling the players all by yourself, everyone will be working as a team.
"That's why (former women's doubles shuttler) Lee Meng Yean didn't have much trouble settling in when she joined us shortly after her retirement."
BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said the national body was still in the midst of selecting the best candidates and they were in no hurry to make a decision.
"Whomever we're bringing in will report for duty only later next month or early next year," he said.