# ‘Special Project’ does not end the feud between Frost and Chong Wei
# Tengku Mahaleel’s ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ for BAM elections shocks many
By Rizal Abdullah
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) may have come up with a “Special Project” to cool things down between the association’s technical director Morten Frost and world No 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei.
The BAM’s Coaching and Training (C&T) committee under BAM deputy president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria came up with the “temporary solution” that will see Chong Wei train with a “special project” squad that will keep the feuding parties apart in a way to defuse the tension between the Malaysian and the Dane.
The special project will be headed by Indonesian coach – Hendrawan who will be assisted by Tey Seu Bok – so as not to disrupt Chong Wei’s training which fell apart when the Malaysian ace fell on the slippery courts at the new badminton academy.
The fall left Chong Wei with a left knee injury (medial collateral ligament. MCL) tear which seriously jeopardized his hopes of playing in next month’s All-England which is supposed to be his first Super Series tournament this year.
More importantly Chong Wei is targeting to win the elusive world title in this year’s World Championships scheduled to be held in Glasgow (Aug 21-27).
In the same Project Squad with Chong Wei are five other players, including national No 2 Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, as training and sparring partners. Others are national back-up players Soong Joo Ven, Soo Teck Zhi, Chong Yee Han and Lim Chi Wing.
Just when the “frosty relationship between Chong Wei and Frost seemed to have found a temporary solution as the nation’s hottest badminton property, a three-time Olympic silver medallist (Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016), turns his focus to the world meet, BAM president Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff threw a spanner in the BAM works for the coming Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Out of the blue Tengku Mahaleel reveals a so-called ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ which is a mystery to many. Tan Sri Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid is currently the BAM acting president since 2015 when Tengku Mahaleel took leave due to illness.
Al Amin, who was Malaysia’s Chef de Mission to last year’s Rio Olympics, has made it clear that he was not a party to the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ as it is the delegates who will decide on the office bearers and not agreements.
Let us see how the “Rings of Fire” will be doused by the BAM.
