KUALA LUMPUR — The early exits of Malaysia’s singles shuttlers at the 2025 Badminton Asia Junior Championships (BAJC) in Solo may have left fans dismayed — but for national singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen, the outcome was anything but surprising.
In fact, the Dane saw it coming.
“Am I disappointed? Maybe for some individual performances that I thought could have been better. But my expectations were met, so to speak,” Jonassen said during a training session at Akademi Badminton Malaysia today, just days after the tournament concluded at the GOR Indoor Manahan Solo.
“I know where we are. I understand and I fully accept that we have an ambition a lot more than we produced this time.”
Malaysia ended their campaign in Indonesia without a single medal to show — a stark contrast to their 2024 outing, where the junior squad returned with one silver and three bronze medals.
Both the singles and doubles divisions fell short this time around, making it a particularly bruising edition of the continental meet.
Jonassen, who has been working closely with the junior team in recent months, acknowledged the downturn but pointed to a bigger picture — and a longer road ahead.
He revealed that his coaching team had zeroed in on three immediate priorities: physicality, tactical discipline and mental resilience.
Although a few of the country’s promising juniors are already training alongside the senior squad, Jonassen cautioned that progress would take time.
“Just because we made some changes, with them now training with the senior team, it’s not that easy. Development doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long process,” he said.
“Everybody wants changes all the time. But actually, what you need is to continue down the path you’ve already taken, maybe with a few tweaks, and then you can deliver results eventually.”
Despite the bruising reality check, Jonassen’s words made one thing clear — Malaysia’s future in singles will be built not on miracles, but on method. — July 29, 2025