Malaysian badminton legend Lee Chong Wei has confidence in the new president candidate of the Badminton Association of Malaysia, Tengku Saifruh

Malaysian badminton legend Lee Chong Wei has full confidence in the new BWF president candidate Tengku Saifrul, who he believes has the leadership skills to promote the development of badminton in Malaysia.

Malaysian badminton legend Lee Chong Wei is full of confidence in Tengku Saifrouh, the new candidate for the BWF Malaysia president

Former world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei said it would be very lucky for Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Saifrul to accept the nomination, as it would not be easy to convince a man of high quality and good reputation to take the helm of the national sports body. Three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei said: "Tengku Saifrul has the ability to lead the BWF. In addition to being an experienced minister, he has extensive corporate management experience having previously held key positions at CIMB Group and Maybank Investment Bank Berhad. "It is not easy for the BWF Association to find suitable candidates, and Tengku Saifrul loves sports and is willing to take on challenges, and I hope he can lead Malaysia's badminton and sports career to a higher level in the future."

The majority of the BWF Council supports Tengku Saiful. On Tuesday, the acting president of the BWF, Subama Lien, announced that a majority of the BWF Council had reached a consensus to nominate Tengku Saifrul as the new president. Subramaren said the nomination reflects the need for strong and stable leadership in the BWF to move the association forward. The upcoming BWF elections are tentatively scheduled to be held at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 10.

Tengku Saifrul confirmed to the media that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has approved his appointment as the president of the Badminton Association.

The Prime Minister has approved Saifrlu as the president of the Badminton Association. Tengku Saifrul then posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that he was deeply honoured by the BWF's nomination and thanked the BWF for its trust in nominating him as the president for the 2025-2029 term: "I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the trust placed in the BWF. If I have the opportunity to lead this sports association, I will do my best to develop the badminton association into the best sports association in the country for badminton lovers. ”

In addition, Tengku Saifrul also confirmed to the media that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has approved his appointment as the president of the Badminton Association: "I would also like to thank the Prime Minister for agreeing to give me the opportunity to be the president of the Badminton Association. " "The Prime Minister has given me a term as Minister until December this year, so I can focus on the affairs of the BWF after that."

Lee Chong Wei expressed his gratitude to Yang Qiaoshuang for his trust in him and continued to appoint him as a member of the Executive Committee of the "Road to Gold" (RTG) program.

In fact, when Tan Sri Nosa, then Badminton Association president, announced his plans to resign at the beginning of the year, Tengku Saifrul was scheduled to be his successor. However, after the Minister of Youth and Sports of Malaysia, Yang Qiaoshuang, asked Nosa to reconsider his decision, the latter remained in office until the end of the Paris Olympics. After the Paris Olympics, Nosa officially stepped down as president of the Badminton Association, and was replaced by acting president Subamalen as interim president.