KUALA LUMPUR - Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria has resigned as the president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) after serving for seven years.
Mohamad Norza said the BAM Council accepted his resignation at its meeting here today.
The meeting also appointed BAM deputy president I Datuk V. Subramaniam as the acting president effective today.
"This is my last meeting as the BAM president. Datuk V. Subramaniam has been appointed as the acting president,” he told a press conference after the meeting at Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) here.
Mohamad Norza said he would now devote more time to his duties at the international level.
"I have enough on my plate. I hold several positions as honorary president of Badminton Asia, chairman of the Sports for All Committee for the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and member of the Coordination Committee for the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
"I think it's enough for me to contribute to sports for the next two or three years, and after that, I will slow down," he said.
Mohamad Norza also hoped that the leadership that will take over the badminton governing body will be ready and more open to accepting whatever challenges the sport may face in the future.
"There are many things we haven't achieved, but we have set the right path or platform to bring it to the next level. There is much work to be done, but we are on the right plan," he said.
He said badminton fans should not ''oversimplify'' things when assessing BAM.
"I hope people will understand that this work will be done professionally," he said.
Meanwhile, Subramaniam said that moving forward, he is ready to continue the efforts initiated by Mohamad Norza in BAM.
"You all know how our president has led BAM. The path has been set and there is nothing much new to look at," he added.
Mohamad Norza was supposed to hold the position of president for this term until next year.
Previously, he announced his intention to step down in December 2023, with Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz named as his successor.
However, after being persuaded by Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, he agreed to stay on until Paris 2024.
The 57-year-old corporate figure replaced Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff as BAM president in 2017. - BERNAMA