KUALA LUMPUR: Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz says the national body is actively seeking new sponsors, as its current financial model is “not sustainable”.
Tengku Zafrul said that, in principle, BAM should place greater emphasis on development programmes, and agreed that national players could compete in fewer tournaments.
“Even one of our sponsors said it was keen to spend more on development than on our elite programme. This is something important,” he said.
“Besides players’ salaries and bonuses, we also have to factor in the cost of their coaches, travel and tournament expenses.
“We need to understand the return on investment for each player to give us a clearer picture of our finances. At the moment, it is not sustainable.”
He added that BAM would also discuss players’ competition schedules with coaches, noting that there was little value in entering every tournament on the calendar.
“We can look at Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei’s era. His main rival, Lin Dan of China, was selective about the tournaments he played in. We should adopt a similar approach for our players,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul also pledged greater transparency in BAM’s finances, beginning with the council meeting scheduled for tomorrow.
“We need to work harder to sell the badminton story to attract more funding.
“We receive about RM5 million from the government, but it is not enough.”
