KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has appointed Elizabeth Tan as ambassador to promote the national badminton squad featuring new and young faces.
Its president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the selection of the singer known for her hits such “Knock Knock” and “Setia” took into consideration Elizabeth’s popularity in the social media and among youths.
“In our journey to the Olympic Games qualifying starting from May 1 to April 30 2020, we hope Malaysians will be with us. “
“We feel that the presence of Elizabeth Tan will give a bigger impact especially in reaching out to the younger generation. We know that Elizabeth has almost two million followers.”
“We hope the collaboration will generate a win-win situation. We also welcome other personalities to give their service in realising the effort to clinch the first Olympic Games gold medal for Malaysia,” he told reporters at the cooperation announcement in Academy Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara today.
Mohamad Norza said the cooperation with Elizabeth was timely with the objective of BAM to introduce new faces to represent Malaysia. He said the people knew about badminton through individuals such as Datuk Lee Chong Wei and this year BAM wants the phenomena to change as fans would seeing new faces in the national badminton squad.
“With the moving out of senior players, today our players’ average age is 23. They are young and new and need to get exposure for future development,” he said.
On the Olympic Games qualifying, Mohamad Norza said Malaysia will be giving opportunities to more players to earn qualifying points to the world’s largest sporting event.
“Each country can only obtain a maximum of two participants in each category. We will be sending as many players as possible to collect qualifying points.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth who is known as Lizzy said she would be sharing with the people especially her followers on social media platform about BAM and national badminton players.
“Many knew Datuk Lee Chong Wei when badminton is mentioned. But not many knew the country has good and disciplined players and Lizzy will share the preparations of our players throughout the year.”
“Lizzy will also give support to the national badminton squad whether through social media or watching their games at the venue,” she said.
According to Elizabeth, her first task is at the Malaysia Open from April 2 to 7 at Arena Axiata in Bukit Jalil. — Bernama
