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BAM complete revamp of their coaching and training structure

Posted by Lucas Liau News 11:38 AM

PETALING JAYA: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) showed their seriousness in wanting to produce world champions when president Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh made two important announcements yesterday.
Nadzmi named former international Datuk James Selvaraj as BAM’s high performance director, tasked with raising the quality of training and coaching in the country.
He also announced an increase in the incentive scheme for winners at the World Badminton Championships.
With the appointment of James yesterday, the BAM’s revamp of their coaching and training structure under secretary Ng Chin Chai is complete.

Datuk James Selvaraj(pic) was named as Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) high performance director yesterday. And he immediately took a swipe at Lee Chong Wei and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong for having no world titles to back up their status as world No. 1s. “Ranking alone is not enough. I want champions,” he said.

“After much deliberation and consideration, I am proud to announce Datuk James as our high performance director. He has represented the country as a player and coach,” said Nadzmi in a press statement released by the BAM yesterday.
“He also has vast experience in management, thus making him the most suitable candidate for this very important post.”
The post is indeed a very crucial one as far as charting the future of Malaysian badminton is concerned.
James, who is currently a senior manager with Bata Malaysia, will oversee the coaches and their training programmes and ensure that only the best potential is tapped.
There will be six coaches-cum-coordinators who will report to James directly.
They are Rashid Sidek (men’s singles elite), Rexy Mainaky (men’s doubles elite), Hendrawan (men’s singles back-up), Tan Kim Her (men’s doubles back-up), Wong Tat Meng (women’s singles elite and back-up) and Pang Cheh Chang (women’s doubles elite and back-up).
Nadzmi added that with James in the picture, the BAM aim to transform their development programme to become a strong and sustainable feeder system, through which the next generation of champions will be produced.
And in a move to keep the players all psyched up for the world meet in Paris, which begins on Monday, Nadzmi also announced that a world champion will get an extra RM20,000 under their new incentive scheme.
Previously, BAM only offered RM30,000.
“This (the RM50,000 incentive) is an additional encouragement and also a reminder to all our players that BAM are always ready to motivate them in their quest to become the best in major tournaments. We will not hesitate to reward them well if they achieve the goals set for them,” said Nadzmi.