By Amiril Muttaqien Meketar
BANGKOK, Dec 14: National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky is ready to take responsibility to step down following his players’ failure to meet the four-gold target at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand.
“If we talk about responsibility, there will surely be parties who say you should step down, so I am ready.
“This is because we targeted four golds and the public will definitely question the failure to achieve that target,” he told reporters here today.
He said that based on the players’ capability levels and performance, it was realistic to expect them to meet the target, but the opposite happened.
Rexy described the SEA Games as having its own prestige as it is held once every two years.
National top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah emerged as the only Malaysian badminton representatives to clinch gold at the Games after a hard-fought victory over Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma–Meilysa Trias Puspitasari 21-16, 19-21, 21-17.
The success ended Malaysia’s decade-long wait for a women’s doubles gold medal at the SEA Games, last won by Amelia Alicia Anscelly-Soong Fie Cho at the 2015 edition in Singapore.
Meanwhile, national men’s doubles number one Aaron Chia, who settled for silver alongside partner Soh Wooi Yik, disagreed with Rexy taking responsibility by stepping down.
He acknowledged that the Indonesian coaching expert bears a heavy responsibility overseeing three sectors under his charge, namely men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
He said now was not the time to point fingers and that it would be better for all parties to work together to find solutions.
The national badminton team ended their 2025 Thailand SEA Games campaign with one gold, two silver and six bronze.
— BERNAMA