Bigger pool of young players vital to ease selection process - Ewe Hock

KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- Former national men’s singles shuttler, Ong Ewe Hock who is also the Serdang Badminton Club owner said it was important to have a bigger pool of players as that would certainly help the national coach to have plenty of options to choose from in the near future.

Ewe Hock when met at the launch of the 2023 Ong Ewe Hock Cup launch today said the technical advisory panel has also agreed to put performance results as one of the key factors to gauge the players and coaches during their inaugural meeting at the Academy Badminton Malaysia, Bukit Kiara here, yesterday.

Earlier this month, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) set up a technical advisory panel to improve the performance of the national squad which include former badminton greats as part of its members comprising Olympian Datuk Lee Chong Wei, former men’s singles players Roslin Hashim and Ong Ewe Hock, former men's doubles pair Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek and Datuk Cheah Soon Kit.

The panel members also include BAM president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria as chairman, BAM Vice presidents Datuk Teoh Teng Chor and Datuk Ng Chin Chai, BAM Secretary-General Datuk Kenny Goh, as well as former National Sports Council (NSC) Director-General Datuk Dr Ramlan Abd Aziz.

On the competition, Ewe Hock said the second edition of the team event that will be held in University of Science Sports Complex in Penang from March 11 to 12 will involve 16 teams and they will be divided into four groups.

He said there will be four categories comprising open mixed doubles, open men’s doubles, men’s doubles (90 years old combined) and men’s doubles (100 years old combined) in the tournament which offered a prized money of RM15,000 for the champions, RM10,000 (runner-up) and RM5,000 (semi finalists).

-- BERNAMA