The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) as well as the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) pledged to help national shuttlers deal with the pressure and toxicity of social media.

Their support came on the back of death threats and match fixing-allegations on independent shuttler Soong Joo Ven after losing at last week’s Spain Masters.

Prior to that, national women’s doubles shuttler Pearly Tan posted “Do you ever get a little bit tired of life?” after she and partner M. Thinaah lost in the opening round of the Swiss Open.

Lee Zii Jia, who lost early at the German Open last month, also voiced out his frustrations by saying “I’m f*****g done”.

These recent incidents highlighted the powerful influence of social media that should be addressed, according to ABM high performance director Dr. Tim Jones.

“What athletes have to deal with now is completely different compared to even five years ago, social media has just exploded. We need to make sure the players have the support to deal with that pressure.

“Mental health is also extremely important. I don’t think our players are not talented or skilful enough, but it comes down to the right mindset. Psychology will help, and also up-skilling the coaches so that they can identify the problem before it becomes big.

“We need to make sure we have an open communication, so the players can share and not keep it to themselves when they face the pressures of social media.

“With more junior shuttlers joining us, we need them to have the knowledge on how social media can be a good tool for them, but at the same time manage the negatives that will come in,” he told Stadium Astro.

Commenting on Tan, Jones said the shuttler was back feeling rejuvenated.

“Pearly had an illness after she picked up a virus. But that gave her time to rest and she feels good and positive now. If a player is back motivated to train, that is the best mindset,” he added.

National men’s doubles shuttler Goh Sze Fei was also asked about dealing with negative comments and messages on social media.

He said: “These things are out of our control. I can only focus my efforts into my training and preparing for tournaments.”

While social media abuse directed at public figures like athletes can’t be eliminated completely, some major organisations played their part to curb it.

In 2021, Instagram introduced a new feature allowing users to hide messages and comments from non-followers in a bid to stop the abuse especially at public figures.

Last year, world football body FIFA introduced a “dedicated monitoring, reporting and moderation service” to filter hate speech targeted at footballers who featured at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. 

Pengarah prestasi tinggi BAM,Dr Tim Jones berkongsi bahawa Pearly Tan is feeling better and is getting better selepas pearly seperti meluahkan kekecewaannya di sosial media with the sentence

“Do you get abit tired of life?”

More on @ASTROARENA pic.twitter.com/hrijnC6rB6

— wan muiz (@muiz_aziz07) April 4, 2023