Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said players who are not interested and not willing to work hard may have to leave the national set-up.

Norza also warned the shuttlers that the BAM would implement key performance indicators (KPI) to monitor the performance of their players and only keep the players with determination and hunger to bring success for the country through its new "leaner and meaner" structure.

"Coaching and Training (C&T) Committee chairman Datuk Ng Chin Chai agreed with me that only those who are interested to be in the BAM and are willing to work hard can stay.

"If they want to leave or are just taking their own sweet time, they can leave,” he told reporters after launching the 2018/19 Senheng Purple League season on Wednesday.

Norza said, as part of the new structure, the BAM would emphasise on investing in young talents below 23 years old, besides shrinking the number of players under the BAM to reduce the over-reliance on government funding.

"For players aged below 23, we can invest in their future, but you cannot invest the same amount of money for someone [older] who is not giving their 200 percent to the set-up," he said.

Meanwhile, commenting on the continuous poor performance of national men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong, Norza said the Rio Olympics silver medalists would face the consequences if they lose to lower ranked players one more time.

"As the criteria that I have made clear, they cannot lose to players ranked lower than them for three consecutive times.

"Not to put pressure on them, but they actually have two red flags, so there is one more chance for them before they have to face the consequences," he warned.

The pair currently ranked 29th in the world, below Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (23rd), lost to Indonesians Ricky Karandasuwardi-Angga Pratama 14-21, 21-17, 19-21 in the second round of the China Open last week.

They also lost to B. Sumeeth Reddy-Manu Attri of India 21-15, 21-23, 19-21 in the Japan Open first round early this month.

In last month’s Asian Games in Indonesia, the medal hopefuls were eliminated by the hosts' Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon in straight sets 20-22, 19-21 during the quarter-finals, which saw the Malaysian badminton squad return empty-handed for the first time in 32 years since the 1986 Asian Games.