PETALING JAYA, March 6 — The Badminton World Federation (BWF) should provide strong grounds to bar the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) observer Jadadish Chandra from attending the second session hearing on the match-fixing case involving two national professional badminton players in Singapore.   

BAM president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the statement issued by BWF secretary-general, Thomas Lund yesterday did not answer the question on the matter.   

According to Mohamad Norza, the ban on Chandra’s involvement in the second session should have been raised during the first session which began at 10am and not otherwise.

"The rejection process should be done during the proceeding from 10am onwards, but they did it at night. We’re challenging them that any issues pertaining to any objection must be raised during the proceeding. 

"We are accessing our right basically to tell them to give us an explanation because this is already public knowledge.. they need to know that,” he told reporters after the signing of a RM1.75 million sponsorship agreement between BAM and 100PLUS for two years here today.

In this regard, Mohamad Norza said BAM would be sending a show cause letter over the unprofessional action of BWF.

The local media reported that Lund had his own reasons why BWF avoided issuing a statement as BWF had to comply with their own regulations and guidelines as well as policies which did not allow them to issue any statement until the final decision on the case was made. 

"For me, his statement (Lund) yesterday was like keeping himself quiet. He should speak on the basic matters only,” he said.   

Meanwhile, on the sponsorship, Mohamad Norza said the cooperation established since November 2003 saw the continued joint effort to produce world standard national badminton players.

Under the agreement, 100PLUS will also be the main sponsor for the National Youth Circuit Championships for Under-12, -14, and -16 as well as the team category.  

He said 100PLUS would be the main sponsor for isotonic drinks at all championships organised by BAM including the Malaysia Open and Malaysia Masters tournaments. — Bernama