Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) President Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria has been chosen as recipient of the Sports Leadership Award at the Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM)-100PLUS 2022 Awards. “Tan Sri Mohamad Norza has shown firmness when dealing with pressing issues related to the management and administration of national sports associations. Without a doubt, he has proven his leadership qualities.
“We hope this award will motivate Tan Sri Mohamad Norza to continuously strive to elevate the standard of sports associations in this country,” SAM Vice President, Hazreen Mubarak said today.
Tan Sri Mohamad Norza assumed the BAM president’s post beginning in 2017, replacing Tan Sri Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff who had stepped down due to health reasons.
Tan Sri Mohamad Norza’s best achievement with BAM was ending Malaysia’s drought at the World Championships 2022 through men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
Under his leadership, Malaysia also bagged three silver medals at Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2018 through Datuk Lee Chong Wei (men’s singles), Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (men’s doubles) and Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles).
Tan Sri Mohamad Norza also initiated the introduction of the key performance index and merit-based assessment on senior players which subsequently saw the emergence of top young talents including Lee Zii Jia, Aaron-Wooi Yik and M. Thinaah-Pearly Tan.
He was also responsible for the introduction of AirAsia-BAM Junior League which saw the yearly participation of more than 4,000 students from 280 schools.
In 2018, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza was elected as the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) President, replacing Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Jaafar. He was also President of the Malaysian Commonwealth Sports Council and a former Chairman of the National Sports Institute (ISN).
He was also the former President of the Malaysian Royal Polo Association and the Putra Polo Club.
Tan Sri Mohamad Norza was also the Chef de Mission who led the Malaysian contingent in winning 62 gold medals at the 2015 Singapore SEA Games, the biggest feat achieved by the national SEA Games contingent outside Malaysia.
At OCM, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza introduced various initiatives including a transparent selection criteria for athletes bound for major Games, the reintroduction of the OCM Athletes Commission (AC) including awarding grants and allowing the participation of AC representatives at OCM’s Executive Board, reviewing and revamping OCM constitution and the setting up of a comprehensive database comprising information on officials and athletes who have participated in various Games.
Tan Sri Mohamad Norza’s leadership was also recognised in the international sporting scene following his appointment as the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Sports For All Committee as well as Honorary President of the Badminton Asia (BAC), both for the 2023-2027 terms.
The award is an honour for BAM as Tan Sri Mohamad Norza is the first Malaysian to fill up the post until 2027.
Tan Sri Mohamad Norza’s appointment as Honorary President of Badminton Asia was also due to his wide experience in the governance of badminton, Article 13.2 which requires wide knowledge to achieve specific status and bring impact to the Asian badminton governing body.
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