Blow to badminton

PUTRAJAYA: Badminton suffered a blow but archery is expected to enjoy a major facelift this year with the government’s decision to officially name three sports under their — Road to London — Olympic Games programme yesterday.

As expected, cycling was also named as the sport with the potential to win medals at the London Games in 2012.

Yesterday, in a bid to get a head start, the names of athletes earmarked for the programme were also revealed. The only notable name missing from the cast was top women’s singles shuttler Wong Mew Choo.

Hard decision: BAM have to decide whether to give Mew Choo more time to come back from her injuries or find a replacement.

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are now left with two options — find a replacement for the injury-prone Mew Choo or give the national No. 1 more time to come back and stake her claim for a place in the Olympic squad.

Yesterday, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that the three sports would enjoy greater attention from the government in the next three years leading to the Games.

“We have formed three sub-committees — finance, planning and preparation and sports science to look into the interests of these three sports,” said Sabri.

“There will be more competitions and attachment programmes to improve their standard.

“For badminton, the focus will also be in the mixed doubles. The names of the potential mixed doubles players will be named later.”

Among the three sports, archery has not enjoyed much foreign outings and Sabri said the government had given the green light for archery to enjoy more exposure.

“Archery has shown that it have the potential. But the archers have only enjoyed five to six international competitions in the past. Like the Europeans, we want them to go for at least 10 international tournaments a year,” said Sabri.

“They will also have attachment programmes in Europe to get acclimatised to the conditions that they can expect in London.”

Sabri said that a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bath and Marlborough Universities would be signed soon to provide an alternative training ground for the Malaysian Olympians in Europe.

With the bigger budget and more emphasis, Sabri said that it was only natural to expect better results from these sports at the next Games in London.

“All we want is for the squads to do better than at the Beijing Games. Anything more than one silver medal will be an achievement,” said Sabri.

In Beijing, Lee Chong Wei was the sole medal winner when he won the silver after losing to China’s Lin Dan in the men’s singles final last August.

Sabri urged the other sports not to lose heart although they were not under the Road to London programme, which would be officially launched on Feb 2.

He said that sports like hockey might be included if they showed promise before firing a parting shot at those already in the programme: “Do not take your places for granted."

My Opinion , BAM should give Mew Choo some time , I believe she'll be like Zhou Mi , late to shine ( as in late to show their talents ) , ok fine , dun compare with other countries . Let's compare with Malaysian's shuttlers then , CHIN EI HUI - WONG PEI TTY , They've been joining the Olympics since 2000 and they were playing since 1997 I think and NOW oni , they shine their talents , so I believe Mew Choo STILL has her chance .