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Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Badminton news

Kim Hock’s role as chief coach redefined

KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will re-define the role of chief coach Yap Kim Hock. The move is to help him manage the coaches under his charge more effectively.

The BAM's general manager Kenny Goh said that he instructed Kim Hock and several coaches yesterday to submit self-evaluation reports on how they could serve better in the national team.

They are expected to report back to the BAM in batches from next week.

Kenny said after a meeting of the coaches in Bukit Jalail that there were loose ends that needed to be tightened up.

“Generally, we want the coaching set-up to be managed efficiently. As for Kim Hock, we want to help him to manage the coaches better. It means that we have to review his job functions,” he said.

On a statement on Friday by National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Zolkples Embong that there were problems among the coaches in the elite squad, Kenny said that it was not discussed during the meeting.

“No one raised the issue and we felt that it was better that Datuk Zolkples talks about it (the rift among the coaches) with our president (Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh) first,” he said.

However, Kenny admitted that there were differences of opinion among the coaches.

“It is common for the coaches to have different views over training programmes or the way things are handled. But we will ensure that these problems will not disrupt the team's preparation for the Beijing Olympics,” he said.

Kim Hock said that he would oblige with the request of the BAM to review his job as chief coach.

“The coaches and I have no problem with this. After all, they are our employers,” he said.

Kim Hock, however, was happy that there was progress in a move to tighten up the selection criteria of shuttlers for major events.

“The coaches decided that we would not depend solely on world rankings. For example, we will look at players' achievements over a year before a major event,” he said.

“If there are ties, we will look at the results over the last three months. If a tie still exists, we will look at the players' age.”

The new guidelines for selection of shuttlers for major events will be released at the next meeting for coaches.

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