KUALA LUMPUR – Newly-elected Badminton World Federation (BWF) council member Datuk Kenny Goh expressed his aspiration to see Malaysia having a bigger voice in the sports governing body.
Kenny, who is also the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary-general, hopes to resolve a lot of issues which will be brought up in BWF for the sake of badminton development, be it locally or internationally.
“I want to thank BAM president, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria, who nominated me to the council and thank all members who believed in me.
“To be frank, the trust has been placed on me but more so I think now we can really work together as a team to ensure the development in this sport for Malaysia and globally,” he told Bernama when contacted today.
At the 82nd BWF annual general meeting (AGM) held virtually today, Kenny received 218 votes to be among the 20 elected as council members for the 2021-2024 term.
Of the total, eight hailed from Asia, seven from Europe, two each from Pan America and Africa and one from Oceania.
Dane Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games gold medalist, was returned unopposed as president as were deputy president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul and vice-president (Para Badminton) Paul Kurzo.
Meanwhile, Kenny said quarantine based training involving players from Road To Tokyo (RTT) programme and some senior players in Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM), Bukit Kiara, here, have proceeded smoothly thus far.
He also did not see any reason players were not be able to cope with the quarantine situation as they had gone through similar circumstances last year.
Kenny added that apart from normal training, BAM had lined up several activities including recreational activities inside the academy building to help them cope with the current pandemic situation.
The likes of national men’s singles ace, Lee Zii Jia and the blossoming women’s doubles pair of Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah returned to training on April 27 after more than a week of inactivity since 15 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 at ABM last month.
The sweet success of budding Malaysian badminton players in clinching two titles at the Slovenia International 2021 badminton championship at Dras Centre, Maribor yesterday meanwhile has caught the attention of Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.
Reezal Merican in a post on his social sites today described the conquests of mixed doubles pair, Choong Hon Jian-Toh Ee Wei and women’s doubles duo, Low Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow as a major achievement as they have just started their stint as senior players this year.
He told them to continue their excellent performances shown in Europe.
“Congratulations to Choong Hon Jian and Toh Ee Wei as well as Low Yeen Yuan and Valeree Siow for emerging champions in your respective categories this morning. Malaysia is proud of you!,” he said in a post uploaded on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The young pair, Hon Jian-Ee Wei aged 20, took the mixed doubles title after defeating Indonesia’s Muh Erwiansyah-Sofy Asharunnisa, 21-18, 21-18 in a battle lasting 32 minutes.
Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow, both aged 19 were fielded as an unseeded pair shocked third seeds, Isabella Nielsen-Marie Steffensen of Denmark 21-11, 21-15 to garner their first international championship.
