The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have made no guarantee on their latest coaching restructure, but are confident it is for the betterment of the national contingent who underperformed in 2021.

The latest changes saw current coaching director Wong Choong Hann take charge of the singles department and Rexy Mainaky head the doubles’ department.

Both head honchos are in charge of all coaches in their department, along with respective shuttlers from the back-up and elite squads.

“There is no guarantee, but we hope this structure will be able to move us forward. We are not changing for the sake of changing. We have done a thorough SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities & Threat) analysis, and we hope this new structure will be more streamlined.

“This means the training sessions will be more stringent and robust. We can and we hope to do better next year,” said BAM coaching and training committee chairman Kenny Goh after the meeting chaired on Tuesday.

The national body are also prioritising the Thomas Cup 2022 as their big milestone.

Besides the biennial affair, the other major events next year include the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and the SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.

When asked on the shuttlers’ overall performance this year, Kenny said “it could have been better.”

M.Thinaah-Pearly Tan winning the Swiss Open, Lee Zii Jia triumphing at the All-England and Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bagging bronze at the Tokyo Olympics were touted as the best performances of the national shuttlers in 2021.

The other performances were nothing to shout about, despite a large representation on the BWF World Tour from the Asian Leg in Bangkok, to the European affair which began with the Sudirman Cup in September and later the Bali leg.

The BAM are also set to conduct a meeting with the players after the New Year.

Rexy, when asked on his latest appointment, said he is willing to take up the challenge to revive the team’s fortunes.

“It is going to be a tough job. I want to be on court with the players, but as coaching director I will still be able to do that, while getting an overall view of the department’s progress. I’m sure me and Wong will be able to communicate well and review the changes for next year.”