Malaysia's badminton players have received a tongue-lashing from the government's sports agency after a dismal performance in the World Badminton Championships, reports said yesterday.
The deputy director of the National Sports Council (NSC), Zolkples Embong, said the national team, which only garnered a mixed-doubles bronze, had wasted the thousands of ringgit spent getting them to the tournament in Spain.
"We, the NSC and the sports minister, are truly disappointed with the badminton team," Zolkples was quoted as saying in the Star daily.
"Their recent failure at the World Championships does not reflect well on what we can expect from them in the Asian Games," he said, referring to December games in Doha.
Zolkples said the team had failed to justify the 423,390 ringgit (US$115,051) to send them to Madrid, and that the agency would not tolerate excuses for the poor showing.
"We have spent so much on them. But the players and the coaches talked about dubious line calls and umpires favoring Europeans. But look at China, they still went home with four world titles," he said.
Looking to end a 36-year gold medal drought in badminton, Malaysia had pinned its hopes on top-seeded men's singles player Lee Chong Wei or one of the men's doubles pairs.
But Lee was bundled out last week in a quarter-final shock, while the doubles pairs also failed to make it past the quarter-finals.
Zolkples, who criticized the Badminton Association of Malaysia for compiling an overstaffed support team of coaches and officials for Madrid, said the body had been given a week to come up with answers.
"We have already written to them officially ... they have one week to explain the reasons behind the failure," he was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times.
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