FROST AGREES TO COACH MALAYSIA
by Mike Grossman (from a report filed by YANG YANG Badminton Equipment)

December 19, 1996 (New Shuttlenws) - Morten Frost, the former Danish star badminton player and now a top-rated badminton coach and team manager, has agreed to coach the Malaysian national squad, according to officials of the Badminton Association of Malaysia.

Frost, the winner of several prestigious All-England badminton men's singles titles and the guiding hand behind Denmark's marked improvement in the Olympic Games and the world team championships this year, has resigned from his post with the Danish badminton organization effective at the end of this month and is expected to take up his post in Kuala Lumpur around February.

Frost's salary as the Malaysian coach was not disclosed. This had been a sticking point in the negotiations between Frost and the Malaysian association, with Frost asking for an annual salary of 240,000 Malaysian ringgits (about 100,000 U.S. dollars) and the Malaysians offering less than half that amount.

Frost and the Malaysians are reported to have settled for a compensation package of around 180,000 to 200,000 Malaysian ringgits with outside sponsors paying for the difference between the association's budgeted salary for their head coach and Frost's total annual compensation.

As Malaysian national team coach, Frost will be faced with a fragmented national team. All of the top Malaysian men's singles players belong to a professional group, Nusa Mahsuri, who are often at odds with the Malaysian association and who have refused to have their members train together with the players who have remained with the association.