Pm Urged To Intervene After Bam Bans Zii Jia Jin Wei

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DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to intervene after the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) controversially suspended two national players.
BAM announced yesterday that it was barring Lee Zii Jia and Goh Jin Wei from international competitions for the next two years.
This comes after Lee - an All England champion and world number seven - resigned from BAM to help him reach his target of getting into the top five.
In a statement today, Lim called on Ismail to reverse the ban.
“Ismail Sabri should do something good for a change by stepping in and reversing the two-year ban imposed on Malaysia’s top badminton male player Lee and female badminton player Goh from international competitions by the BAM [...]
“Unless this ban is reversed immediately, this will discourage youths from excelling in sports.
“Malaysia’s hopes of Olympic glory and winning our first gold medal in our history will remain a distant dream,” said the opposition politician.
READ MORE: BAM's big axe draws international scorn
The Bagan MP further called for Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu to resign for “failing to protect” Malaysian athletes.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng“If Ahmad Faizal cannot do his job well, it is better for him to resign than sacrifice our athletes, who, unlike Ahmad Faizal, are working hard to gain glory for the country,” Lim remarked.
Following BAM’s ban, Ahmad Faizal had expressed regret and called for a resolution between the association and the shuttler.
The BAM ban is the latest in a string of recent controversies involving his ministry.
Earlier this month, it cut athletes’ training allowances and dropped 144 professional athletes from its national training programming.
The ministry attributed the move to funding cuts and a need to fund flood recovery efforts.
Among those dropped were national diver and 2017 world champion Cheong Jun Hoong, who ultimately decided to retire from the sport entirely.
Responding to criticism over these cuts, Ahmad Faizal said the ministry was simply “spending within its means” amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and said dropped athletes could still compete in tournaments. - Mkini

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