You can count on BAM president Zafrul to get it right with numbers
BAM president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul AzizBAM Tengku Zafrul having a word with Kenneth Jonassen and Rexy Mainaky.–KAMARUL ARIFFIN
PETALING JAYA: Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) boss Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz knows his numbers well.
In a short video in his social media page, Zafrul gave a clear picture of how many officials are involved in the international stage as umpires.
He was responding to a question posed by a Netizen, Tajuddin Kamil on Twitter or X.
"I don't see any international badminton umpires from Malaysia although we are top four badminton country. Does anyone have answers?" Tajuddin posted.
And Zafrul was quick to answer in his video.
"It's not true that there is no umpire from Malaysia. There are several levels you need to go through to become an umpire," said Zafrul.
In fact, Zafrul listed out there are BAM cccredited (BAM-A), BAM certificated (BAM-C), Badminton Asia accredited (BA-A), Badminton Asia certificated (BA-C) and BWF (Badminton World Federation (BWF) C and BWF A.
"If you have BAM A, then you can be an umpire in the state and national level tournaments.
"Currently, we have 670 umpires with BAM-A but to become an international umpire, you need at least BAM-C level which we have 57 currently.
"Umpires with BAM-C are qualified only for international competitions organised by BAM.
"To become an international umpire for overseas tournaments, you need to have Badminton Asia accreditation."
Zafrul went on to impressively list the number of international umpires not only in Malaysia but also in China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.
"We have seven umpires with Badminton Asia-A, 3 with Badminton Asia-C and one each with BWF A and BWF C status. So, overall, we have 12 international umpires.
"If we were to compare with other badminton powerhouses, do we have more or less?
"China have 15, Indonesia have 14, Malaysia have 12, followed by Japan with 9 and Korea with 7.
"So, we are among the countries with the highest number of umpires. Of course, as the level gets higher, it's more difficult to get accreditation.
"That's the reason, we have only two umpires with BWF-A and BWF-C status.
"If anyone is interested, you never know, you can become our third international umpire," added Zafrul.
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