DANNY Chia became the sole Malaysian to make the half-way cut in the Maybank Malaysian Open while 21 other locals were reduced to watching from the sidelines.

Danny, 39, completed his second round yesterday with a two-round (71-73) total of an even-par 144, which was the cut-off mark.

"I was quite confident of playing well after yesterday's (Friday's) suspension of play until I received many phone calls at night with people telling me that I'm the only Malaysian with a chance of making the cut.

"That got me thinking a lot and I couldn't get enough sleep last night (on Friday). It was a bit of a mental game for me."

He was tied 62nd with Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Ossthuizen of South Africa and 10 other players.

The other 13 Malaysian professionals and six amateurs failed to advance, while A. Sasar and R. Nachimuthu retired from play.

However, Danny had a mixed day in the third round, posting four birdies and four bogeys before bad light stopped his play on the 11th hole.

He is joint 57th with seven more holes to play this morning before the final round.

Danny was paired to play with South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel -- both Major winners..

"It was a good experience playing with two great champions as I learnt something from them... how they swing, how they hit the ball. so it was good... we had fun on the golf course," said Danny.

"Beginning this week I was hitting the ball bad. So, I'm trying my best to not make any bogey but I can't stop hitting bad.

"So, the only thing I can do is to try to salvage my score by sinking birdies... try to putt better, chip better this week."

And what about his fans?

"They are very supportive although we are not in the leading flight but there are still many of them following our flight. Might be because I have two Major champions on the flight," said Danny.

Malaysian second round scores: 82nd M. Sasidaran 75-71 (146); 87th Akhmal Tarmizee 74-73 (147), Ben Leong 70-77 (147); 101st Khor Kheng Hwai 75-73 (148), Chan Tuck Soon (am) 71-77 (148), 108th S. Sivachandran 73-76 (149), Shaaban Hussein 74-75 (149), Rashid Ismail 74-75 (149).

121st Iain Steel 72-78 (150), Shaifubari Muda 75-75 (150); 130th Sukree Othman 74-77 (151); 133rd Airil Rizman 80-72 (152), Jeremiah Kim (am) 74-78 (152), Mohamed Hisyam (am) 79-73 (152); 137th Hanafiah Jamil 74-79 (153); 145th Nicholas Fung 76-79 (155), Gavin Kyle Green (am) 80-75 (155); 150th Kenneth de Silva (am) 78-80 (158); 153rd Azman Basharudin (am) 84-83 (167).

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THE BAM coaching and training committee (CTC) is all for the proposal to let Misbun Sidek coach the back-up squad instead of World No 1 Lee Chong Wei.

CTC chairman Ng Chin Chai, who is also the BAM secretary, confirmed Misbun has been offered a contract to train nine back-up shuttlers (currently under Hendrawan) and is also expected to get an elite player in his group.

Chin Chai, who chaired a CTC meeting in Bukit Kiara yesterday, said Chong Wei and other elite shuttlers will continue training under Tey Siu Bock and Rashid Sidek.

"We have offered a contract to Misbun where we are throwing him a new challenge by giving a group of back-up players under the 2014 Asian Games and 2016 Olympic programmes.

"Misbun took the announcement calmly and said he would consider our contract. He has been given until April 28 to finalise his decision before the executive council endorses it during a meeting on the same day.

"We haven't finalised the players that will be under Misbun. This will be done after discussing with Misbun and Hendrawan and there is also the possibility of having an elite shuttler under Misbun."

BAM has offered a two-year contract to Misbun, and Chin Chai hinted there will be no changes to the coach's salary although he will no longer be in charge of the elite squad.

Misbun's son, Misbun Ramdan, is one of the players that he will be guiding under the new arrangement while elite shuttler Tan Chun Seang could be included in his group.

The other back-up players currently under Hendrawan are Goh Soon Huat, Arif Latif, Kuan Kam Chung, Lim Fang Yang, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Syawal Ismail, Tew Gee Chang and Loh Wei Sheng.

The CTC has decided to promote junior coach Chi Zhanrong to the post of national women's singles coach in place of Wong Tat Meng.

Junior shuttlers, Sonia Cheah and Yang Li Lian, who have been under Zhanrong, will also be promoted to the national squad.

Lee Chong Wei will spearhead Malaysia's challenge in the Sudirman Cup where Chong Wei Feng has been named as the reserve singles.

The other players in the squad are Koo Kien Keat, Tan Boon Heong, Chan Peng Soon and Hoon Thien How while six women - Lydia Cheah, Tee Jing Yi, Wong Pei Tty, Chin Eei Hui, Vivian Hoo and Goh Liu Ying -- are in the mixed team championships in Chingdao on May 22-29.

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