KUALA LUMPUR: It's a very difficult and painful time to be a Malaysian sports fan right now.
In badminton, the local community is left puzzled because, while the country grapples with a shortage of talent and lack of results, Malaysian coaches flourish overseas.
Wong Choong Hann, former Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director, was the latest to make headlines after his charge, Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, reached the final of the India Open in New Delhi yesterday.
Why or rather how did we end up in this conundrum?
Like a broken record, the blame game never ends, but the results seem to be getting from bad to worse.
Apart from Choong Hann, other notable local coaches who ply their trade overseas and are making waves include Jeremy Gan (in charge of world No. 2 mixed doubles Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan) and Tan Kim Her (who guides former men's doubles world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi).
Lest we forget, Japan's supremo Park Joo Bong, Singapore's doubles head coach, Paulus Firman and even BAM Coaching Director Rexy Mainaky had all tasted success overseas after coaching stints in Malaysia.
Fans have begun questioning BAM, demanding answers.
Comments like "BAM does not value talent" or "It wasn't the coach's fault before," and "Maybe it's a different mindset of the players" are a common sight on social media.
Diehard fans even slammed Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, and three-time Olympics silver medallist Lee Chong Wei, for sharing their views on the decline of Malaysian badminton. Even the media is not spared.
BAM Head of Administration, Michelle Chai, shared her perspective on X. In her post, she highlighted three key factors that can be considered when a coach moves abroad.
Firstly, no more BAM; secondly, players from different countries have different mentalities, different reactions to training and sacrifices; and thirdly, the environment which results in higher expectations.
Michelle also emphasised that while the absence of BAM could be one of the contributing factors to the success of Malaysian coaches overseas, it is not the only reason.
"Interesting to see comments from fans that the reason for the success of Malaysian coaches abroad is 'only' the absence of BAM management.
"Indeed, this perhaps could be the reason but might be a bit naive to think that this is 'the' reason. If true, this is the reason for our players failing to perform, we should be seeing all non-BAM players flourishing at the elite level.
"Success and failure in sports are complex, with many stakeholders having distinct responsibilities, and it is unrealistic to tie it to a single factor.
"Even then, only one can be the champion," she wrote.
