KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 ― The Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) will try to assist the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to address the lack of training venues for national players at the Bukit Kiara Malaysian Badminton Academy (ABM) here.

Its minister, Hannah Yeoh said she would have a discussion with Perbadanan Stadium Malaysia (PSM) to look for ways to offer existing infrastructure and provide adequate training venues for national shuttlers.

“The lack of training venues means badminton players need to deal with less optimum or unsuitable training periods for them.

“That’s why we need to solve this issue as soon as possible. That’s my priority based on today’s visit,” she said at a media conference after attending an official visit to ABM today, where the issue was part of the main agenda discussed during a meeting with BAM there.

On her recent meeting with professional national players, including national men’s singles champion, Lee Zii Jia, Hannah said that it was to allow her to listen to the problems the players faced, and to provide the government’s assurance to help those with a good chance of qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

Hannah also said that national women’s hockey player Hanis Nadiah Onn could lodge an appeal with the National Sports Council (NSC) or the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) over her suspension from the national team and her being dropped from playing at the 2023 South East Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia this May.

She added that her ministry would be making an official statement soon about the list of athletes who will be involved in the programme to the 2024 Olympic Games, saying that a new model was needed to assist national sports associations as well as athletes and professional players to cover the high cost of expenses of participating in sports championships.

As the organising of sporting events involved a huge cost, she also hoped that the Budget 2023, set to be tabled this February 24, would provide some hope to national sports associations to help resolve these issues. ― Bernama