KUALA LUMPUR – The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) welcomed Jeffer Rosobin as its new juniors head coach, unveiling his ambition to mould the next generation of local shuttlers into world champions.
The former Indonesian shuttler and 1996 Asian Championships gold medallist was appointed by BAM on October 14, following the outgoing Datuk Misbun Sidek’s decision not to extend his contract until the year’s end.
In a video posted by BAM today, Jeffer said there are changes needed to propel the junior team to new heights.
“I would like to express my gratitude to BAM for providing me with the opportunity to be a part of the junior team.
“Recently, I have assessed the performances of our junior team players, and there are significant changes to be made, particularly in terms of their characters and their winning mentality, which needs to be enhanced further.
“Drawing upon my expertise, I aim to assist them by having more training sessions so that we can nurture more junior talents who may one day become world champions for Malaysia,” Jeffer said.
The 47-year-old coach, who guided Indonesian women’s singles player Gregoria Mariska to the World Junior title in 2017, also hopes to leverage the existing high pool of young talents in the association by collaborating with the senior team’s coaches and players.
“There are not many junior players in Indonesia compared to what I have been seeing in Malaysia and I hope we can maximise and leverage these junior talents and make them better for Malaysia.
“In terms of training, we will also be working together with the senior team so that the junior players can also learn from them and we aim to help and learn from each other.
“I hope we can witness a fruitful outcome through this collaboration as my target is to bring the junior Malaysian team to the BWF Asian Junior Championships and the BWF World Junior Championships,” he added.
Jeffer’s contract with BAM officially commenced on November 1. – November 4, 2023