Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 11, 2024: One of the first legacy initiatives undertaken by Olympic Council of Malaysia President Dr. Norza Zakaria, following his election as OCA Vice President for Southeast Asia, was the establishment of the Asian High Performance Badminton Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The concept for the Asian High Performance Badminton Centre was initially proposed by Dr. Norza to the OCA Director General, Captain Husain Al-Musallam, during his working visit to Kuala Lumpur on Monday, May 1, 2023.
During the visit, Captain Husain was given a guided tour by Dr. Norza to the Petronas Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM). The OCA Director General was highly impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities within the ABM, which not only houses the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) but also serves as the primary training hub for the national badminton team.
The main objective of establishing this centre is to contribute to the development of badminton across Asia by providing world-class training facilities in Malaysia, particularly for developing NOCs in the region.
The centre aims to nurture talent by offering high performance training to players, as well as development opportunities for coaches and umpires, through structured OCA development programmes.
This initiative represents a collaboration between the OCA, the NOC Malaysia and BAM. The partnership was solidified with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding during the 44th OCA General Assembly on Sunday, September 8, 2024, at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, India.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the newly elected OCA President, Raja Randhir Singh, Dr. Norza Zakaria representing NOC Malaysia in his new role as OCA Vice President for Southeast Asia, and Mr. Subramaniam Veruthasalam, Acting President of BAM.
This historic collaboration marks a significant milestone for the future of Badminton in Asia and reflects the commitment of all parties involved to advance the sport at both regional and global levels. (Photo: OCM)