KUALA LUMPUR: Former world and Olympic champion Rexy Mainaky, the coaching director of the BA of Malaysia (BAM), has urged his national shutllers to adopt a winning mentality to achieve bigger things in world badminton.
He wants his charges to stop being timid and modest with their targets and to aim big.
After recently sharing his views on the danger of toxic positivity, Rexy expressed his thoughts on what he sees as another problem among Malaysian shuttlers.
"If it were not for that mentality, I would not have gone on to become a world and Olympic champion.
"When I was playing, I never thought about losing in the first or second round.
"Even if my opponent then was the great Park Joo Bong-Kim Moon Soo (South Korea), my target was always to be the champion.
"The problem here is players get complacent when they set modest and timid targets.
"Speak to the players, and they will say, 'I want to break into the top 32 or top 20.'
"Fine, and then what? Remain stagnant and comfortable just making the cut to play in Super 500 tournaments and above?" questioned the BAM supremo.
Without singling out specific individuals, Rexy revealed that several players within the national setup exhibit such mindsets.
Rexy said this is why local players get left behind while others improve.
"Look at China's Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang, for example. One is 23, and the other 22; already, they are world No. 1.
"Here, senior players are still fighting to play in International Series and Challenges.
"You must develop a champion's mentality to be a champion.
"Set big goals and targets. I don't care if people say it's unrealistic. I prefer players who dare to dream big than those who only want to improve their ranking to play in tournaments," added Rexy.
