Badminton: Excuses but BAM accepts them!

Zakry Latif (left) leaves the BAM office followed by Fairuzizuan Tazari and Ong Soon Hock after the players’meeting with Nadzmi yesterday. — PIcture by Osman Adnan

A WEEK after folding like a pack of cards, the national players have given their reasons for the mediocre Thomas Cup performance.

To a fan, the reasons will sound more like excuses but the BA of Malaysia has accepted them and president Datuk Nadzmi Salleh even praised the players for being able to analyse what went wrong.

In fact, Nadzmi, following his meeting with the players at Juara Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, even feels that drastic changes are not needed to check what is, for those on the outside, surely a sign of decay in the set-up.

"The players were able to analyse themselves on what transpired in the Thomas Cup and several factors were highlighted," said Nadzmi.

"They said that our rivals are learning faster, have improved, are mentally stronger while some even spoke about the pressure from the media and how it disrupts them." The excuses seem lame and with BAM hesitant to get tough, Malaysia can expect mediocre performances in the World Championships and Asian Games later this year.

BAM has targeted gold in both but with the players admitting they can't handle pressure, what chance is there for the wait for a World Championships title to end in Paris? The players, said Nadzmi, also gave suggestions on how future campaigns should be run.

"They touched on the isolated centralised training in 2006 which could have been a success story if not for Wong Choong Hann's injury." Malaysia fell in the semi-finals then, losing all three singles tie to Denmark. "They also suggested that interview sessions with the media be just once a week so that their preparations are not disrupted.

It would also avoid the media from putting more pressure on them," said Nadzmi.

While losing to China, though in the manner they did was unexpected, was always going to happen, the fact that they lost to Japan for the first time ever seems to have escaped the players.

Nadzmi attributed this to the improvement shown by Malaysia's rivals but a question BAM and the players have to answer is why isn't this the case with them? The players lack for nothing and yet, they are willing to accept that Japan have improved.

Nadzmi is to meet the coaches today and hopefully, they are more honest in their appraisal to ensure that the Thomas Cup fiasco is not swept under the carpet just because the players have given what have been deemed as plausible reasons.

The coaches must be brave in pushing forward their proposals and dropping players who can no longer contribute to the national agenda.

BAM doesn't seem to want to do that and if the coaches also compromise, then Malaysian badminton is set to become mediocre.

*Taken from NST Online

Lotus must live up to its name, says Dr M

NORFOLK (England): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants the Lotus F1 racing team to achieve success by living up to the brand’s legendary name.

The former Prime Minister said the Malaysian-backed team had a mission since taking the Lotus name and reputation so “they jolly well deliver on that”.

“Lotus is a very famous name and if they fail, that is not going to be good for them,” he told newsmen after opening the Lotus racing factory in Hingham, eastern England, on Monday.

Dr Mahathir, who is Proton adviser, was later assisted in firing up the engine of the Lotus F1 racing car – the Cosworth T127 – while seated behind the wheel.

Ready to roll: Dr Mahathir sitting in the Lotus F1 racing car after opening the factory in Hingham on Monday. Giving him the thumbsup are (from left) Kovalainen, Fairuz and Trulli.

Present were team principal Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, his two deputies Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and S.M. Nasarudin, CEO Riad Asmat, chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne and the three drivers Fairuz Fauzy, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.

Touted as the Father of Motor Racing in Malaysia, Dr Mahathir is the visionary behind the birth of the Sepang International Circuit and the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Asked on the significance of his visit, he said he came because he did not believe the team could get the car ready in time (for the season opening race in Bahrain on March 14).

“So, I challenged them, you get the car ready and I will come and sit in it.”

“Well, I lost my bet but fortunately, no money is involved,” he said to laughter all round.

Dr Mahathir said normally, it would take a year or more to build a racing car but it took the team only five months to build it from scratch.

To a suggestion that the team’s low operational budget could hinder its performance, he said ‘‘We can work with a small budget. It is okay, we can do it”, referring to reports of the team’s one-third budget compared with McLaren’s.

Fernandes said it was not just about money but about Malaysian innovation, ingenuity, passion and people.

He drew attention to a question by CNN once on how the team could compete when Toyota and Honda had pulled out.

“I said AirAsia made more money than Japan Airlines and All-Nippon Airways,” he said, adding the team was also competing against Ferrari which had been racing since 1930.

He said history had shown that those with huge budgets did not necessarily always succeed.

*Taken from The Star Online

Third 1Malaysia clinic now open

KUANTAN: The people in Kampung Padang Jaya near here will no longer have to go to a nearby town for basic medical care after a 1Malaysia clinic was opened there.It was the third such clinic in the state after the first two were opened in Kampung Kempadang near here and in Temerloh, last month.

Some 10,000 residents in Kampung Padang Jaya and neighbouring areas will be able to seek treatment at the clinic.

Staff nurse Hafizannor Yusuf, 36, said since the clinic opened on Jan 4, they had treated about 2,000 patients.

"The high number of patients shows that the public are confident with the quality of services we provide."

The clinic also serves patients from other neighbouring areas as the nearest clinic is located 15km away in the town and Sungai Lembing.

Sukarno Lohim, a 45-year-old government servant, said the clinic had made it easier for the residents to get basic medical care.

"The service is good as I don't have to wait too long.

"It's also located near my house so I don't need to go to town to seek treatment for minor illnesses."

The 1Malaysia clinic has been set up to provide the poor and lower-income people with medical treatment for minor illnesses at a minimal cost.

It is being manned by qualified medical assistants who can handle minor cases such as fever, cold, flu and asthma. The clinic also provides the nebuliser for chronic asthmatic patients.

*Taken from NST Online