Kuala Lumpur: Former world junior champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli have decided not to take up the option to join the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), because he felt more comfortable to train with his father, Zulkiffli Sidek than at BAM.
National Sports Council director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail who met the 22-year-old Zulfadli and his father last Thursday to discuss about the possibility of joining BAM, confirmed that Zulkiffli Sidek has informed him about their decision of not joining the national body.
“His father, told me on behalf of Zulfadli that they are not accepting BAM’s offer. He said they already have a systematic training program set in place to help Zulfadli qualify for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro,” said Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.
“His father also stressed that since Zulfadli already halfway into Olympics, they might as well let him continue to follow his existing training program as they work towards 2016,” added Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.
Zulfadli Zulkiffli, 22, who is currently ranked 36th worldwide, managed to advance to third round of 2015 World Badminton Championships in Jakarta last August. He defeated world No. 6 Chou Tien-Chen of Taiwan in the first round, and then beat Scott Evans from Ireland in the second round before losing to Wei Nan of Hong Kong in the third round.
“BAM will only conduct further discussion about this if Zulfadli is still interested in conversation,” said Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Shapawi said the National Sports Council will not fund training programs for Zulfadli, since they only support athletes that fall under umbrella organization of all national sports.
Zulkiffli Sidek has been a qualified badminton coach since 1984. He was the USA Olympic Badminton coach from 1990 to 1992, and was also a player for the US National team.
