He said Malaysia was unlucky as an opportunity to win the World Championships was lost when national No 1 Lee Zii Jia retired in the quarterfinals because of a blister on his right foot.

“It’s like once in many years this opportunity comes, unfortunately, we didn’t take advantage. It also shows that we are not there yet and still relying on a few players, the task is to expand the chances by having more world-class players,” he told reporters.

“Whatever happened with Loh Kean Yew is also a wake-up call to all of us but we take it positively, we are happy that Singapore won it and the chase (to produce a world champion) is up to us, to bring our level of badminton higher  as soon as possible.”

He said the coaching and training committee chaired by BAM secretary-general Kenny Goh has a heavy task to identify the weaknesses that need to be rectified quickly for the 2022 season.

“We have to accept that we are one of the countries still chasing the world champion glory. However, the players are all work in progress – there are weaknesses that need to be ratified by Kenny and I believe he’s coming up with changes very soon,” Norza added.

Penang-born Kean Yew is ranked 22 in the world. He won the world title defeating India’s K Srikanth 21-15, 22-20 in the final yesterday, becoming the first Singaporean to do so.

He had been drawn to meet Zii Jia in the semifinals, but it did not happen as the Malaysian pulled out while playing Dane Anders Antonsen in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Norza said some of the things that needed serious attention were reliance on the same players, such as Zii Jia, men’s pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, and women’s pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah and mixed pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See.

“We need a more robust and aggressive approach to face 2022 and further empower our preparations for Paris 2024,” he said.