Youth and Sports Minister Shabery Cheek said the absence of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) top officials officials contributed to Malaysian top shuttler's Lee Chong Wei's defeat at the 16th Asian Games yesterday.

NONE Lee lost the men's singles title to China's Lin Dan in three sets.

Lee is the reigning All England champion and he had also bagged two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last month. He is also the world No. 1 ranked player.

"The BAM officials did not go to China to watch our badminton matches, causing our badminton team in the Asian Games to lose," suggested Shabery.

The minister said that as badminton is the country's national sport, the nation's dignity was at stake.

Shabery's said the success of the national men's hockey team which will be playing in the semifinals in the Asian Games next week was due to support from its leaders.

According to him, the presence of Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) officials notably its president, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, the crown prince of Pahang, as well as former president Perak Sultan Azlan Shah, made a big impact on the team's performance.

"Chong Wei's failure needs to be viewed seriously. I want to see more sports association leaders present besides just the managers because every little bit helps."

shabery cheek in parliament 160708 Although Shabery ( left ) did not point out at anyone in particular, the president of BAM is Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh, with Pahang prince Tengku Kamil Ismail Tengku Idris Shah as deputy president, and the patron of the association is Rosmah Mansor.

"I truly appreciate the efforts put in by our royalty to be with our teams. This must be emulated by our badminton officials and other sports organisations leaders as well," he said.

Shabery is still optimistic of achieving the target of nine gold medals in the Asian Games.

He said they actually did not expect the badminton team to win any golds. However they are bringing home two silvers, in the men's singles and men's doubles.

He believes the Malaysian team can achieve its target of nine golds as he expected other athletes to rise to the occasion.