3th Asian Games DOHA 2006: Shuttlers fall

05 Dec 2006


ON paper, Malaysia fielded their best available players but their performance still fell short as South Korea advanced to the Asian Games badminton team final with a 3-1 win in their semi-final clash yesterday.

Korea were there for the taking but somehow, top singles player Lee Chong Wei decided to lose and Malaysia's wait for a final appearance, last achieved in 1990, continues.

National coach Yap Kim Hock had, in laying his plans for the semi-final, said that World No 2 Chong Wei would surely give Malaysia a winning start but that would have been true if the Games were held six months ago.

Chong Wei's form has dropped tremendously since his failure in the World Championships and his defeat to Korean No 1 Lee Hyun Il was more of his own doing than the form of the opposing player.

Chong Wei's unforced errors proved to be the difference in the end as he fell 21-19, 21-19 in 41 minutes at the Aspire Indoor Stadium.

That meant first pair Lin Woon Fui-Fairuzizuan would have to give Malaysia what even Kim Hock had said would be an unlikely point against World No 2 pair Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae to keep the team's hopes alive.

The Malaysians gave it a go, winning the first game 21-19 with a battling performance.

They then raised hopes when they held match-point at 20-16 in the second but the Koreans are not ranked second in the world without a reason.

They kept plugging away and aided by the Malaysians unforced errors, drew level at 20-20 to force deuce.

As Woon Fui-Fairuzizuan hung their heads, Jae Sung-Yong Dae took the game 22-20 and the decider was a foregone conclusion, with the Koreans winning 21-16.

It was then Hafiz Hashim's turn to keep Malaysia in the tie and he did, but off course, he first had to slay the demon that plagues his game.

Hafiz was in commanding form in the first game against Park Sung Hwan, easily winning 21-12 but he lost the second just as easily, 11-21.

The third was a close affair but Hafiz surged ahead at 14-12 and sealed the game 21-17.

Scratch pair Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, touted as a combination for the future, then came on but Koreans Lee Jae Jin-Hwang Ji Man were by far the better pair, winning 21-14, 23-21.

The Koreans face either China or Indonesia, who were still engaged in an exciting semi-final at Press time with the Chinese leading 2-1, in the final today but for Malaysia, there should be plenty of soul searching.

I am very disappointed with Lee Chong Wei (my first time)and i don't know why he is still error-proned, making lots of unforced errors. He should have learnt that from his previous matches esp the one against Japan when he gave away too many easy points in the second game and had to struggle to win the game.If he still can't get rid of unforced errors-making habit, it would be hard for him to win big tournaments.

For the doubles, i think that the coaches' plan backfired. CCM should be able to make the difference. Anyway, what's done is done and hopefully they will fare better in the individuals events.

Well, he did suffer a setback a month ago when he was involved in a very serious car accident.

I remember my big accident. Very nerve wrecking and left me feeling unsettled for quite a period.

TBBMBB(N)

I hope this is a lesson learned. Anyway Hope we will do well in the individual events.

too bad. i expect MAS to play CHN in the final

Disappointing, could have been a win for Malaysia...

As for Chong Wei, just saw the replay, and his unforced errors proved to be the undoing... His smashes and drops were alright, not so for the net plays...

Interestingly, Lee Hyun Il, after 12-12 in the second set, seemed to use the body attack and it worked, unsetlling Chong Wei... Good tactic by Hyun Il...

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36429&page=2&highlight=peaked

I had said before, my assessment of LCW is that he can't improve anymore than what he already had. Yes, LCW is an excellent player but everybody and everything has its limit. Nothing personal against LCW, just my objective view. If LCW get a month or 2 of rest, he might able to get back what he had before but not anymore.

what a waste of opportunity, wonder what happened to singapore's susilo

too bad. i expect MAS to play CHN in the final

not too bad ;) you at least got 50% correct :D :D :D CHN is in the final now.

I think MAS made a mistake which was their low profile which was fatal.

Even animal roars when facing danger to scare enemy away. But MAS team claimed that their target is only 1 silver. Koreans view this as sign of weakness and lack of confidence. So they launched a full scale attack against MAS. The best strategy is not keeping low profile to invite enemy's attack, the best strategy is to scare enemy away before they launch the attack.

anyway, still hope MAS boleh in the individual events

The best strategy is not keeping low profile to invite enemy's attack, the best strategy is to scare enemy away before they launch the attack.


Hmmm... that reminds me of something that someone tried last weekend and it didn't work out quite well...:rolleyes::confused:

Only good thing for Malaysia MS is that BCL probably won't have any warm-up matches anymore during the team event, and will have less time to get used to the environment as LCW had. Otherwise, LCW maybe in more trouble, and should anyone have much hope on Hafiz...:p

When I learned that Mas lost 3-1 to the korean, my first thought was, this must be Hafiz who loss again. But it surprised me that it was actually LCW who lost. IMHO I don't think that the young Mas doubles can handle pressure. For the individulas, it seems that there is only little hope ... :( for the MAS boleh ...

Korea were there for the taking but somehow, top singles player Lee Chong Wei decided to lose and Malaysia's wait for a final appearance, last achieved in 1990, continues.

That's a bit harsh >_>. I'm sure LCW didn't "decide" to lose. It isn't as if LHI is a second class player. Once again LCW is expected to be invincible. Why blame it all on him? Why blame it on anyone? A loss is a loss, deal with it.

Why r u guys so surprise abt LCW lost...LHI has been among the top few player in the circuit for quite a long time and he is a very good player as well... he got sharp net/drop fast reaction/movement everything a top player should hav...

ChompChomp,

Not surprised if LCW lost, but on how he lost it. Possibly still feeling the effects of the accident + long season where he was entered in many tournaments. A little side effect of Malaysia having too few quality players.

Plus LHI is not in top form himself, not that I am saying he is not a great player. Now I would not have minded if LCW lost after a very hard fight, like agains Bao in the WC06.

I don't know why... MAS has a great team... at least on paper...

How ever, they failed to bring trophies like the INA and CHN teams..

may be there is not enough chemistry..?

I don't know why... MAS has a great team... at least on paper...

How ever, they failed to bring trophies like the INA and CHN teams..

may be there is not enough chemistry..?
I don't have an answer either, just maybe some guesses.
Could it be the huge difference in coaching style of misbun and li mao camps and players trained under both of them end up with mix up or even conflicting style of play and conflicting tactics. (this is just postulating)

May be public support is also a issue..

Media support and financial support are important to success.
for example, if TV stations are not willing to spend money to broadcase BM games, then where does the public and financial support come from? when CCTV5 reporters are packing the Gym for reports and photos of CHN national team, should BAM show some love for their players?



Just a few thought

May be public support is also a issue..

Media support and financial support are important to success.
for example, if TV stations are not willing to spend money to broadcase BM games, then where does the public and financial support come from? when CCTV5 reporters are packing the Gym for reports and photos of CHN national team, should BAM show some love for their players?

Just a few thought

don't think so. Unlike canada, badminton is low profile and has low funding. In MAS, at least the funding part is still there. I can't say lcw, hafiz, roslin, KKK, etc lack training or international tournament experience

Well, he did suffer a setback a month ago when he was involved in a very serious car accident.

I remember my big accident. Very nerve wrecking and left me feeling unsettled for quite a period.

TBBMBB(N)

its obviously not a 'very serious' car accident... and he Said a weak after the accident that that incident didnt bother him and his training pace!! so why lost!! i mean after not being focus as world no.1 what other reasons for his failure this time.. perhaps the korean player had improved a lot or LCW he himself has never improved ever since WC. which for me its purely to stupidity!! arrgghh..nvr thought i would criticised LCW as i'd always supported him despite his lost in previous tournaments... but this time... NO EXCUSE ! :mad:

oh give me a break... aren't you all badminton players??? do you want others to blame you when you lose??? in match, one loses and another wins.. deal with it. accept it...

welll..deserve to be blamed when a player did not perform well...

its obviously not a 'very serious' car accident... and he Said a weak after the accident that that incident didnt bother him and his training pace!! so why lost!! i mean after not being focus as world no.1 what other reasons for his failure this time.. perhaps the korean player had improved a lot or LCW he himself has never improved ever since WC. which for me its purely to stupidity!! arrgghh..nvr thought i would criticised LCW as i'd always supported him despite his lost in previous tournaments... but this time... NO EXCUSE ! :mad:
Of course he would say it didn't affect him because LCW is that sort of person to say things like that - even it it did affect him.

Being one of the very, very top athlete in the world is tough. You just have to time the form and fitness at certain times. Sometimes, you plan as best you can but the rhythm isn't quite there. Very few players can maintain their very top form throughout the whole year. And LCW's training plan was geared for the world champs, not the Asian Games. Lin Dan's form tells you why he should be no.1 in the world. He can keep up his form and rhythm much longer and more consistently than anybody else.

Of course he would say it didn't affect him because LCW is that sort of person to say things like that - even it it did affect him.

Being one of the very, very top athlete in the world is tough. You just have to time the form and fitness at certain times. Sometimes, you plan as best you can but the rhythm isn't quite there. Very few players can maintain their very top form throughout the whole year. 'And LCW's training plan was geared for the world champs, not the Asian Games'. Lin Dan's form tells you why he should be no.1 in the world. He can keep up his form and rhythm much longer and more consistently than anybody else.


again.. no lame reasons or whatsoever... the phrase that I made in bold.. what do ya mean by preparing for world champs n not the AG???:eek::eek: are u a fan of TH ?? :rolleyes:like comin up with all sorts of lame excuse to back up a player when he didnt perform well... just like when TH failed to deliver in the JO.. some of his die hard fans said that 'nah.. JO is so insignificant... TH didnt bother to win or so.. he's focused on the WC n bla bla bla'...it's just crap!:mad:and i'd said earlier.. i'm always a big fan of LCW.. but it doesnt mean that when he didnt perform well i'll still back him up for his lost against the korean player..... no doubt i'll support him thou..but not blindly..:D

You bold the wrong part. Read the 2nd and 3rd sentences of that paragraph again.

And those are not excuses, those are facts.

are u a fan of TH ??ahh, throwing wild accusations eh?;)

obviously i was merely asking...wakakkaka... better focus on the men n women team final match....haha...

We should have get used to the fact that Malaysia players can only win champions at their own home ground. They have the skills, good training facilities, world-class coaches, good subsidies from BAM, and yet they are unable to deliver good and consistent results whenever they are expected to.
I think the main reason is because they lack of the psychology skill and the ability to read the game well. They can't adjust themselves to the game and and always make many unforced errors. When I watch them play, they never give me the kind of confidence and determination to win as shown by China, Korea and Indonesia players. Where is the spirit and hunger?

We should have get used to the fact that Malaysia players can only win champions at their own home ground. They have the skills, good training facilities, world-class coaches, good subsidies from BAM, and yet they are unable to deliver good and consistent results whenever they are expected to.
I think the main reason is because they lack of the psychology skill and the ability to read the game well. They can't adjust themselves to the game and and always make many unforced errors. When I watch them play, they never give me the kind of confidence and determination to win as shown by China, Korea and Indonesia players. Where is the spirit and hunger?

agree, nice points, was thinking a bit the same thing... (not trying to copycat... hehe).... but i thought they hired a sports psychologist specialist before the WC? what happened now??

everytime i watch LCW or Hafiz play, there's always that feeling that they couldn't finish the job/win confidently... this is evident in the WC, and now in the AG....

May be the whole game is about mental toughness

There is nothing wrong with Mal team, we are the ones who had false expectation what they were able to deliver. In other words, Mal team has been over-rated.

Again New Strait made easy mistake.

Jung/LEE is not ranked 2 in the world right now. Rank 2 are Martin/Jens from Denmark.

But they are seeded 2 in this Asian Games individual MD.