KUALA LUMPUR – The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is not in a hurry to search for a new chief executive officer for Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM), six months after Michelle Chai resigned from the position.
BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said the national body is comfortable with the current set-up.
“We will see as time goes along, we have not closed the option (of having a new CEO).
“But right now we are putting it on hold for the time being,” Kenny told reporters when met after a BAM-National Sports Council working committee meeting.
When asked about how long the search will be stopped, he answered, “we will see.”
Currently, the most senior figure at ABM is Director of Coaching, Rexy Mainaky.
Michelle, an experienced sports administrator with stints at the Asian Football Confederation and United Arab Emirates Football Association, was appointed as the CEO on October 1, 2022.
But in May of this year, she resigned from the position after the poor performance of the women’s team at the Cambodia SEA Games in Phnom Penh.
The young squad was eliminated by an unheralded Philippines squad in the quarterfinals.
High-performance director Timothy John Jones was also relieved of his duties due to the disastrous performance.
Michelle admitted that the job was too big for her and that ABM needed an individual with sound technical knowledge of the game and management skills to lead it.
She was set to assist in the search for a new CEO while serving her notice before being redesignated as BAM’s administrative director in July. – December 13, 2023