BAM to emphasise juniors’ growth

PETALING JAYA, Aug 4 — Morten Frost is aware the depth of the national badminton contingent is scarce, with hardly any replacements in sight to fill in the shoes of seniors such as Lee Chong Wei, Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.

The BA of Malaysia (BAM) technical director also knows the progression of the junior shuttlers has been slow, which is why he made plans for the batch who will graduate from the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS).

“I spent a lot of time with the junior players at the recent Perak Open (July 25-30) and from what I saw, we have potential with some good prospects. I will look into the system of the current Form Five and post Form Five students and propose some changes to the management,” said the former world beater, who has identified 10 to 14 potential shuttlers.

“I won’t give their names just yet, but they will be in contention for future tournaments like the World Junior Championships in Peru (November). There is little emphasis given to schools and we hope to change this soon.”

The 57-year-old Dane is spot on about the progression of the national junior shuttlers, especially the boys, who have been stagnant since making the grade into the back-up squad, with the only notable achievement coming from Soo Teck Zhi, who won the Asian Junior Championships singles in 2013.

At the recent Asian Junior Team Championships in June, the national team crashed out in the quarterfinal for the third consecutive year after a 3-0 thrashing to China.

“I will propose for the players selected for junior tournaments to have an increased and intensified training, which will see them work with various groups. For example, the mixed doubles team will work with the doubles department.

“This has proven effective with the seniors and we would like to apply it to the juniors too,” said Frost, who however identified Goh Jin Wei as a future world class player.

“She has everything it takes to be one of the best. This is a crucial stage in her career, from now till she reaches 20. If she is harnessed right, she will go far,” said Frost.