KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Youth Development director Datuk Misbun Sidek does not want to rush the national junior squad’s preparations for the mixed team event at the Youth World Championships next January.

The badminton legend said although the dream was for the team to emerge victorious, he would be taking a safe approach by providing some moderate training first.

"The important thing is the comfort level and understanding that we want to provide, because the four-month period (of no central training during the MCO) is a long time, even though we did some training through Zoom and there were players who followed the training with their state teams.

"Although we went through a very difficult time in this pandemic, overall, the players began to be more disciplined, eager to follow what we did. Like other countries, we also have ambitions to win the mixed team event at the World Championships,” he said when met by reporters here today.

Misbun was overseeing his team report back to Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara, after a four-month hiatus following the Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed since March 18.

"So what we are trying to do is plan a lot of things, such as deciding on who will play the singles and doubles events, and this needs to be done properly in order to form a strong team.

Malaysia has only won the mixed team event once in 2011, although several juniors have emerged victorious in their respective categories, such as Goh Jin Wei (women’s singles in 2015 and 2018), Zulfadli Zulkiffli (men’s singles in 2011), Nelson Heg Wei Keat-Teo Ee Yi (men’s doubles 2011) and Ow Yao Han-Yew Hong Kheng (men’s doubles 2010).

Earlier, a total of 43 ABM players aged between 16-18 and six coaches reported back to the academy, while those in the 13-15 age group are expected to return on Aug 16.

The players will be quarantined pending the results of the Covid-19 swab test, and are expected to begin training on Tuesday.

The 2020 Youth World Championship, which was supposed to be held in Auckland, New Zealand from Sept 28 to Oct 11 this year, has been postponed to Jan 11-24, 2021.

Meanwhile, Misbun said the national Under-21 Championships from Sept 2-6 would be the first test for his young charges following the MCO period.

Misbun, who only began his new role with ABM in February, said he would not interfere much in the programmes provided by the coaches, and only provide guidance when necessary. — Bernama