KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — National badminton ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei advised National men’s singles Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin to change his attitude and become a model to other young players.
Chong Wei said Iskandar should not have smoke cigarette during championships such as the Thomas Cup in Bangkok, Thailand and should be aware of the ramifications of his actions.
Local media reported that Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president, Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria had announced that Iskandar was dropped from the list of players to the Indonesia Asian Games in August due to his smoking episode.
“Discipline is an important matter. I learned from coach Misbun (Datuk Misbun Sidek) to be disciplined. Coaches will not tolerate any player with disciplinary problems.
“In Iskandar’s case, he had received numerous warnings but took them for granted. In my opinion, our coach (Misbun) and BAM had made the right decision with Iskandar.
“Everyone knows smoking affects the fitness of athletes. He is not a teenager who needs to be scolded every day. He needs to rethink what he wants in his badminton career,” said Chong Wei when commenting on BAM’s decision to drop Iskandar from the list of shuttlers playing in the Indonesia Asian Games.
Misbun stressed that he wanted players to the Asian Games to be free of disciplinary problems and hoped Iskandar would be mature in deciding his direction as a badminton player.
“If I want a player, they need to be committed in their training, finish the given training module, listen to instructions and become a model to younger players,” he added. — Bernama
