KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — No specific discussions have been held by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) so far to rope in former national badminton champion Lim Pek Siah back as the national doubles coach.
BAM doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky said the recent meeting with Pek Siah, who is now the Singapore doubles head coach, at the Malaysia Open recently was just a casual meet-up with no specific agenda.
“Nothing serious was discussed with Pek Siah at the Malaysia Open... just to find out how she’s doing in Singapore and so on.
“However, we would appreciate it if Pek Siah wants to lend her services to BAM and all that has to go through management, where decisions rest in the hands of BAM high-performance director Dr Tim Jones and secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh,” he told reporters at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara here today.
Rexy was responding to a media report that BAM has now got Pek Siah under its radar.
Rexy said although he had never worked with Pek Siah before, he was impressed with her ability to handle the Singapore team, and especially with the men's performance at the SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam recently.
The gold medalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games through the women's doubles event with Ang Li Peng also served as BAM women's doubles coach from 2015 to 2018.
On April 1, men’s doubles coach Flandy Limpele made a shock decision to leave BAM when he did not renew his contract after two years while one month later, mixed doubles coach, Paulus Firman resigned to spend time with his family.
Meanwhile, Rexy said that Muhammad Fazriq Mohamad Razif has just been absorbed into the senior team full time in an effort to improve his game at a higher level.
“I was told by Youth Development Director Datuk Misbun Sidek last Saturday that Muhammad Fazriq will start training with the senior team because from what I hear now, he is really focused on badminton,” he said. — Bernama
