The Kuala Lumpur Badminton Association (KLBA) is blazing a new trail to develop young talent through a five-year partnership with Banthongyord Badminton School based in Bangkok, Thailand until 2026.
KLBA president Datuk Seri Dr Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos hoped the collaboration would be the association’s starting point to produce more quality young players in line with the new leadership’s mission to strengthen its development programme.
“The recommendation for this school came from Datuk Razif Sidek the vice-president and chairman of the KLBA coaching and training committee, who assured us that they have a very good training (state-of-the-art) system, this is new ground that KLBA wishes to explore.
“At the same time, KLBA wants to explore ways to work with private clubs so this is the best way for us to collaborate with established private clubs,“ he said after the signing ceremony of the cooperation at Axiata Arena here yesterday, which was marked by an exchange of jerseys.
He also expressed hope that through the Presidential Scholarship under Jejak Juara (KLBA’s grassroots development programme), KLBA could send primary school students in Standard Three and above to undergo programmes in Thailand.
In the meantime, Razif described the cooperation as a good one that would produce more young players with great talent who could feature in the country’s badminton arena.
“I found out about this school from my son, Muhammad Fazriq who once entered the under-13 tournament organised by the (Banthongyord) school, from there I scouted and saw complete facilities such as a gymnasium and many courts,“ he said. - Bernama
