The Badminton Association of Maldives (BAM) has been accused of mismanaging the Paris Olympic scholarship money awarded by the Maldives Olympic Committee (MOC) to the country's most promising badminton player Nibal Ahmed.

The Commissioner of Sports Mohamed Tholal recently handed over the management of BAM to the Sports Council. The decision came five months after the term of the last executive board of BAM ended.

During these five months, BAM, despite the deadlines repeatedly given by the Sports Commissioner Tholal, did not take action to resolve matters. Eventually, the association was brought under the Sports Council.

One of the players who expressed support for the decision on social media was 22-year-old Nibal, who has been making major progress in recent years as a member of the national badminton team.

"About time the expired, corrupt and ineffective current exco of BAM stepped away for the betterment of the sport. The ongoing issues and incompetence had been damaging the sport in more ways than one," he wrote on social media.

Social media post by Nibal.

Later, in an interview with Adhadhu Sports, Nibal shared stories of the negligence by BAM in various aspects of his matters.

Olympic scholarship and other opportunities for Nibal

The Maldives Olympic Committee awarded the Paris Olympic scholarship to players in 2022. Once the scholarship was secured, Nibal went to Dubai for training in May 2022.

Nibal, who had been training in Dubai for six months, returned to play in the national tournament and overcame the disappointment of losing the national singles final for three consecutive years by winning the national title in 2022.

After that victory, Nibal was planning to go overseas for training again because he was on a USD 1,500 per month Paris Olympics scholarship.

Signing of scholarship. -- Adhadhu File Photo

Every four months, the Olympic Committee deposits the Olympic scholarship money (total of USD 6000) to the BAM account. Under the scholarship agreement, BAM must arrange the athlete's affairs properly.

However, since returning to Maldives after training in Dubai in 2022, Nibal has not received any personal training abroad.

Nibal is also a recipient of the sports scholarship Arutha since last year, which was launched by the former government. He is also on the Asian Olympic Project (AOP), scholarship. It is a scholarship for 20 emerging Asian athletes.

Given all of this, the question remains why an athlete with three scholarships was not allowed to advance his career at the pace he wanted.

The problem got worse when BAM started misleading Nibal without giving him information since 2023.

In January 2023, the BAM held a meeting and told all the players that they would be hiring a South Korean coach to get ready for last year's Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) and Asian Games instead of giving specific scholarships to train abroad.

Korean Coach Jang Ki-young, who was hired last year, is still on the national team. He was hired, with the Sports Ministry arranging his salary, according to the association and the ministry. Various sources said the coach’s salary is more than USD 5,000.

However, it appears that Nibal's scholarship money was also used to pay the coach's salary.

Nibal said he uncovered numerous issues related to BAM.

For one, it turned out that money had been taken from Arutha and the Olympic scholarship, Nibal said.

"This year, to go to Lanka, they requested for accommodation arrangements. So I said 'why are you asking me to go at my own expense when I have received an Olympic scholarship?'. When I approached like that, they said the Olympic committee was not giving the money. When I got the information from the Olympic committee, they said they pay every four months,” Nibal said.

“Then, when I shared that information with the association, they said that the money was being spent on the coach. So I said this is not what the contract says. Money can be spent on the coach if the coach personally trains me. So then they said the ministry gives an amount and some amount is also taken from my scholarship fund."

Nibal decided late last year to find out the details of expenses from the time he was awarded the scholarship. He sent a letter to the association to obtain the information.

At first, the BAM refused to give details of the expenses, saying the association was under audit. But, when Nibal repeatedly asked for the information, the association gave in and shared the sheet of expenses. It took several months to even share that sheet.

The expense sheet showed many errors and negligence that BAM was unable to conceal.

Nibal shared the details of the sheet with Adhadhu Sports.

Issues found in the sheet given by the association

- A month before the Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG), the national team went to a tournament in Mauritius. USD 3270 from Nibal's Paris Olympic scholarship money had been spent on the national team's accommodation, entry fees, meals and 14 events.

- When Nibal went to the three African tournaments, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa, and the association paid for his tickets, the expenses of the three tournaments were put on the Arutha scholarship and the Olympic scholarship, association took money from both.

- National badminton team coach was paid USD 8,176 from January 2023 to March this year which is USD 584 per month. That is until Nibal joined Revival Sports Club. The national coach did not go to any tournaments with Nibal and no personal training was conducted for him. It is against the rules to spend Nibal's scholarship money on a coach for the whole team.

In addition, Nibal said that he had approached BAM with a request to submit documents to Badminton Asia to secure USD 3,000 a year from the Asian Olympic Project (AOP) scholarship.

However, the association has not shared any information about it.

“If claimed, I will get that money too. I don't know what happened to it,” said Nibal, who was named the most promising athlete in 2022 by the Maldives Sports Awards.

Did not qualify for Olympics due to association negligence: Nibal

Nibal said the association had discussed with him a plan to qualify for the Olympics in 2022 while he was in Dubai. Since then, there had been no planning or discussions for the last one and half years.

Last year was the most important year of Olympic qualification and the lack of a plan was the main reason why Nibal did not get a chance at the Olympics.

Besides Nibal, the national team's Fathimath Nabaha, Aiminath Nabeeha and Revival Sports Club's Zayan Zaki competed for the Olympics. Of these, Nabaha, Nabeeha and Zayan have played in 10 international tournaments, excluding the two in Maldives. However, Nibal, who has three scholarships, has not played in 10 tournaments including the two held in Maldives.

"We need 10 tournaments to qualify for the Olympics. Even including the two in Maldives, I couldn't reach 10. It was 8. Even with money arranged, BAM did not facilitate this for me."

Nibal has big reasons for sharing these stories with the media.

For one thing, he wants to respond to the association's accusation that he failed to qualify for the Olympics because he did not work hard enough. Nibal said the association had repeatedly spoken to him in meetings with his father to put the blame on him.

Nibal in an interview with Adhadhu. -- File Photo

He said the second reason is to raise awareness about the losses faced by athletes when their scholarship funds and opportunities are mismanaged.

"I want to tell you that it wasn't just because of me that I didn't qualify for the Olympics. I was very close to getting an Olympic wildcard. The second wildcard was 1,000 points apart. That is actually two wins in these tournaments abroad. The association has neglected a lot of things,” Nibal said.

Nibal said his goal now is to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. To work towards that goal, he has joined the country's most professional badminton club, Revival Sports Club.

The exco of the former Badminton Association and the Olympic Committee were informed that Nibal had started working to qualify for the upcoming Olympics. He has also asked them to secure funds from his Olympic scholarship by August this year.

The Olympic Committee paid the money for the first four months of this year to the Badminton Association earlier this month. That was a told of USD 6,000 which is USD 1500 per month. The association gave Nibal only USD 1,700. The remaining USD 4,300 was reimbursed to the association's budget as expenses for Nibal.

However, Nibal believes that the expense sheet sent to him does not show any rule that would allow the association to use his scholarship funds. This is why he believes the association has neglected his funds and opportunities.

Nibal also sent a letter to the Sports Council, which is currently in charge of the Badminton Association, sharing his concerns. In the letter, Nibal said that he is currently training in Malaysia and relies on the scholarship money. He stressed that every day spent without the funds will have an adverse impact on his career.