A TOTAL of 64 players and coaches of the senior team reported for training at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) yesterday.

All players, including 35 backup athletes, are set to observe self-isolation at their respective hostel rooms in ABM for a period of 24 hours before resuming training after clearing the Covid-19 swab tests.

“I’m looking at a repeat of what we went through at Road to Tokyo (RTT), but on a bigger scale, and also to get everyone in the senior team back on course again.

“For backup players, they went through training two weeks prior, which will give them a head start in terms of familiarity in their on-court movement compared to the RTT group.

“The target is to bring them to pre-Movement Control Order level. Physically, it takes time, but we can tailor our programme for them to improve on a certain aspect of their game that they can focus on,” said Badminton Association of Malaysia coaching director Wong Choong Hann (picture).

Earlier, 17 players including eight under the RTT programme completed a 30-day training camp under strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) at the ABM on June 30.

Wong said looking at the RTT track record, he believes one month is a good time frame to bring the players’ performance-level up to at least 90%.

“The second batch of returning players and coaches will join the elite group training, but we’re applying strict SOPs of social distancing with training schedules designed to control the number of athletes on court, gym or compound at any one time.

He added that it is important for the players to be responsible and follow the set SOPs and guidelines. — Bernama