Determine Your Weaknesses, Says Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) -- The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has been asked to identify the weaknesses of the national Thomas Cup squad so that it can develop a stronger team in future.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the BAM and the national badminton squad must use the defeat to the Chinese team in the Thomas Cup semifinal as a lesson, besides re-evaluating all efforts that had been made all this while.

"Although the hopes and aspirations of Malaysians (to bring back the Thomas Cup) were not fulfilled, I hope the Malaysian team are not deterred but will continue to improve their performance," he told reporters after watching the Thomas Cup semifinal between Malaysia and China at the Stadium Putra, here Friday night.

Also present was the Prime Minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Malaysia lost to China 0-3 in the semifinal and failed to proceed to the final.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek expressed disappointment at the performance of the national shuttlers especially in the first singles where Datuk Lee Chong Wei lost to Lin Dan.

"We know that Lin Dan had always been a challenge to Lee Chong Wei, but did not expect the game to be one-sided.

"He is the world number one and yet Lin Dan could leave him far behind (in terms of points)," he said.

However, Ahmad Shabery said Chong Wei was probably under great pressure because of the high hopes placed on him to collect the first point for the country, thus he could not play his actual game.

"This shows that we are too dependent on only one player in our team," he said.

Following the defeat, he said he would discuss with the BAM and the coaches on the development of the badminton sport in the country in detail, including the construction of the national badminton academy which, according to Ahmad Shabery, would be completed as soon as possible.

Source from BERNAMA

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