KUALA LUMPUR – Former BAM high-performance director Datuk James Selvaraj has criticised national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky’s suggestion of resignation following Malaysia’s disappointing badminton campaign at the ongoing SEA Games in Thailand.
Speaking to Scoop, James said it was “not the right approach” for Rexy to shoulder the blame alone.
“A post-mortem must now be conducted. Players and coaches need to meet and answer questions from the coaching team.
“For Rexy to suddenly announce a resignation over the players’ poor results is not appropriate. He cannot simply step away, as he is in charge of all the doubles events,” he said when contacted.
James stressed that Rexy, a former world champion with extensive coaching experience, still has much to offer.
“He should take a step back, identify the problems, and work on fixing them. Rexy is a good coach, a world champion, and has consistently performed at the highest level. Something clearly went wrong for the players to underperform,” he added.
He also criticised the overall performance of the national squad, which returned with only one gold, two silver, and six bronze medals, far below the four-gold target set by BAM.
“Malaysia’s top pairs, including world champions in mixed doubles and players ranked second globally in men’s and women’s doubles should have won at least three gold medals.
“Even without top opponents like Jonatan Christie or Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, our players were defeated by second-ranked pairs from other countries. Clearly, something went seriously wrong,” James said.
He emphasised that accountability must be shared among players, coaches, and management.
“The players need to reflect on their performance and explain what went wrong. Looking at the entire team, they underperformed,” he said.
Attention now turns to the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China, which begins today, where Malaysia’s doubles players – Aaron Chia-Wooi Yik, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah and Tang Jie-Ee Wei will carry the nation’s hopes. – December 17, 2025