KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will face a daunting task to get the medal in badminton at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics based on the players’ current performance, said Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) former technical director, Morten Frost Hansen.
“Based on the current performance, that’s not looking so good. I do not think I am the only one saying it. But a lot can happened in 18 months. We all saw that at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, they (national players) prepared very well and had a very good performance in Rio.
“Anything is possible. At the moment, it looks difficult but I am sure as they get closer to 2020, the players will start performing better. Everyone has a chance,” said Frost, when met at the launching ceremony of Pocket Spine Doc, a world-leading back pain evaluation and treatment mobile application here yesterday.
Frost, who is a former world number one badminton player, was chosen as the ambassador of the mobile application which was launched globally yesterday.
He noted that the 18-month period heading to the 2020 Olympics would be a very short time indeed for all young players to qualify.
“It would be interesting to see whether the young players can become good enough in a short time because 18 months is very short time when you look at young players.
“So, it would be interesting to see whether the young players like Lee Zii Jia (national men’s single) can come forward to be a contender at the 2020 Olympics,” he said.
Frost also noted that badminton events at the Tokyo Olympics would be more intense since the sport is no longer being dominated by one country.
“We need to accept the fact that other nations have also been working hard, it’s not only Malaysia working hard but the talents everywhere around the world. Now we can see in the women singles event, Spain produced the Olympics champion and world champion, when 20 years ago, they had none.
“The competition around the world is so much greater, and we cannot say ‘I am working hard and I deserve to win’,” he said.
Commenting on Malaysia’s two Olympics silver medallists – Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong in the men’s doubles and Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles) – who left BAM recently but still needed the support of the National Sports Council (MSN), Frost said it should be a win-win situation.
“Clearly, whatever decision is made, priority is for the country.
“I think it is very important to try and create a win-win situation. Winning situation for the country…Maybe they can join training sessions together or separately. But whatever it is must be beneficial to the country,” he said. – Bernama
