Cash-strapped Malaysians told to focus on big events

Published Thu, Jan 28 10 04:29 PM

Malaysia's badminton bosses have been told to enter fewer international tournaments this year and focus on four big events because of a shortage of cash at the country's national sports council.

Because of the financial constraints, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has only had its budget approved up to the All England tournament in March.

"We have to reduce the allocation for competitions due to budget constraints and the focus should be on the four major events," sports council director general Datuk Zolkples Embong told the New Straits Times newspaper.

"BAM's proposal is bigger than what we have allocated and thus, only tournaments up to the All England have been approved."

There are more than the usual number of big international events this year, with the world championships in Paris in August, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October and November's Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Malaysia also hosts the international men's and women's team events, the Thomas and Uber Cups, in Kuala Lumpur in May and Zolkples said he wanted the top players, most notably men's number one Lee Chong Wei, to focus on winning the major titles.

"Winning gold in the world championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games is the priority and as hosts, we must also do well in the Thomas Cup," he told the paper.

"Although Chong Wei has proven his worth, he is not getting any younger and we want him to be around until 2012 (London Olympics).

"(China's) Lin Dan has skipped the first two Super Series events and his focus is on the Thomas Cup, world championships and obviously to win the Asian Games.

"I don't want the players to burn out and fail to perform in the major events."

Source: Web Search