New Badminton Queen In The Making


KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 (Bernama) -- Birmingham-bound singles shuttler Wong Mew Choo may not be fully ready for the World Championship but she is steadily turning into a sparkling gem in the Malaysian badminton scene.

At least by end of this year, said national chief coach Misbun Sidek.

He said Mew Choo, 20, now ranked 124th in the world, was a fast learner and had became more matured in her game.

"She has all the ingredients to become Malaysia's badminton queen. Apart of her strength, speed and power, I need a few more months to sharpen her skills before Mew Choo can produce her best results," Misbun said when met at the Juara Stadium, Bukit Kiara here Sunday.

However this does not mean Mew Choo is not yet ready for the world meet as she has proven her ability by defeating several higher ranking shuttlers during the Sudirman Cup Tournament last March.

At the tournament, Mew Choo put up a good show to edge Japan's Kanako Yonekura, ranked ninth in the world.

Mew Choo, together with the women doubles pair of Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty, will be playing in the World Championship at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England on July 28-Aug 3.

Misbun said Mew Choo exhibited superb physical endurance during the fitness drills.

"In the fitness test held at the National Sports Complex in Bukit Jalil, Mew Choo showed her Herculean strength when she was always ahead of the men's shuttlers in the long distance run.

"Sometimes she left the men's third singles shuttler Lee Tsuen Seng trailing in the 1,600m run.

"What really surprised me was that Mew Choo needed only a few minutes to recover from each endurance test and this would benefit her in the court," said Misbun.

While on the court, Mew Choo has also beaten men's singles shuttler Hazli Izwan.

"Give her time. By end of this year, I believe Mew Choo will be a different player.

"Perhaps, the December Sea Games in Vietnam will be the venue of her first triumph as the new Malaysian badminton queen," Misbun said.

Somehow I had the feeling that she would become a really good player to bring Malaysia back to the map of women's badminton ever since the days of Sylvia Ng.

This is the same feeling that I had the last time I saw a young David Beckham scoring a goal against Blackburn Rovers in a cup tie when he was not famous yet. I told myself, "This David Beckham looks like he could really play very very well".

Could this be true about Wong Mew Choo as well? I hope so.

Just hope she does not burn herself out too soon and can keep it consistent. Seen her play before a couple of years ago, very skillful.

She has been beating top non-Chinese girls lately, that should indicate something.

She will be up against Nina WECKSTROM in the 1st round, followed by Gong Ruina. Needless to say, the meeting with Ruina will be a very tough one, that is if she gets past the first round. However, if she believes in herslef and shows no fear, anything can happen.

Lets hope that she will start beating the Koreans and Indonesians consistently first. The Chinese girls are still a distance away, and we are asking too much from her if we expect her to challenge the likes of Gong RN, Zhou Mi and Zhang Ning.;)

Sounds like she can keep up running:)

I feel Gong RuiNa's most difficult games are against those who run her around the court making her stretch and lurch. e.g. Pi Hong Yan, Camilla Martin.

If Wong has that same patience in her game.....

i've seen this girl play many times and i must admit from her physical appearance she does not look as if she can even last one game..but don't let her looks fool you, she is very smooth, quick, and very talented from what i see. I hope she does progress and help malaysia out in the future sudirman and uber cup competitions.

She needs lots of quality matches, I think. Getting her to train with the men's camp (she and her fellow female players) could be a good idea while getting herself into regular games against top rated opponents in the international circuit can only do her a lot of good.

Next one to come, Joanne! Haha :D

Agreed.

and now wong mew choo is malaysia badminton queen!:)

I hope someone can replace her soon. We need more players like WMC.

replace her? no la.. to assist her, n also to share her burden

..she already have LCW to assist and share her burden with??..:confused: ;)

i mean is women single's department :p ;)

julia,lydia,tee jing yi...they have potential...

yeah, tee jing yi have some great potential!!:)