Coach Li Mao to Return to Korea [Archive] - Badminton Central Discussion Forums

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event

01-29-2007, 12:06 AM

Badzine newsflash (http://www.badzine.info/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=178&Itemid=30&pop=1&page=0) on Li Mao and Lee Hyun-il.

Loh

01-29-2007, 12:23 AM

Any specific date Li is leaving?

Must be quite a blow for Malaysia, especially for LCW and WMC. I thought I saw somebody else giving tips to WMC during the MO intervals, certainly not Li.

I wonder whether LCW's recent loss in form has anything to do with this? :(

Will Misbun be taking over?

ctjcad

01-29-2007, 01:22 AM

...perhaps the Korean National team is looking for a coach to train their younger/junior players.;)
Speaking of which, today, for some unknown reason(s), i watched the young ParkSungHwan play for the first time on tv. The match was against LeeChongWei in the Semifinal of last yr's ABC. Eventhough PSH lost, my initial observation of him after watching 2 sets of the match, i thought he definitely has the talent. He has some upside & downside. For a MS player, i noticed PSH has the height to be a badminton player and also still young. I noticed his smashes are also quite steep and strong. His backhand is quite strong also. His downside is, IMO, he's still quite raw and "unpolished".
If i recall, he beat LinDan in the recently concluded MO. But then lost in the next round. But being very young and still has plenty of chances in the future, hopefully we can see his(as well as other MS players) development blossom with the arrival of LiMao. ;) :cool:

kokcheng

01-29-2007, 05:34 AM

Li Mao's unconfirmed departure is a blessing in disguise.Prior to his arrival,Chong Wei was under Misbun's care.And he was a rising star.Generally,many think Misbun as not a successful coach.Now and then,one reads of harsh criticism of Misbun's capabilities as a coach.If he is not good,why are there so many players under his guidance who are among the top players of the world.To name a few,Roslin,Hafiz,Chonng Wei& KBH.When KBH was training with him,his best achievement was, as the runner-up in the ABC championship.Misbun is a taskmaster.Malaysian players are too pampered.They need STRICT DISCIPLINE to succeed.There is no two ways about it.Can anybody just become an All England Champion.Ask Hafiz who is responsible for his title.Malaysians forget easily.BAM has a gem in its own backyard.Use it before it gets rusty.

fukusami16

01-29-2007, 05:55 AM

Omg this is really a big blow for mas fans and players...but Korea are paying him usd 5000 per mth isn't it?...Sadly this news will affect all of us...But neway hope it will not be a fact..Anyhow Lcw must prove something and Wmc....

Loh

01-29-2007, 06:12 AM

Yes, I think to most outsiders, Li Mao appears to be the man behind Malaysia's recent singles successes. It is perhaps timely to clarify the case now.

Misbun's position was not helped by the changes that arose when Li Mao took over some of Misbun's charges, the most notable of whom was LCW, and he remained in charge of only Hafiz and Roslin. When Roslin was undecided about his own career and decided to opt out of the National Team towards the later part (hope I'm correct), Misbun's position remained more precarious as Hafiz did not show much progress and hardly shine in the international tournaments. On ther other hand, LCW achieved creditable success until recently.

At the beginning of this year, BAM made some changes to utilize more of Misbun's experience. It looks likely that BAM will entrust Misbun with more responsibilities unless they decide to engage another foreign coach to replace Li Mao for the National Team's men's singles.

News of a revamp should be forthcoming soon.

liying_0505

01-29-2007, 08:28 AM

OMG~!!!! Im so sad~~!!!! Li Mao, dun leave~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dun leave chong wei & mew choo n the other players~!!!!!!!
anyway, when is he leaving???

esther

01-29-2007, 08:49 AM

har...really sad...li mao dun leave..haih..
what is the reason for leave our badminton team?
anyway..he is a good coach..
wish him all the best.

ants

01-29-2007, 10:55 AM

At the moment things has not been confirmed yet. Even though we heard of the rumours.

cheeyf

01-29-2007, 09:39 PM

hope he x leave
he is a gd coach n hav made MAS players improved a lot esp lcw n wmc

tjl_vanguard

01-30-2007, 09:38 PM

well, there aren't any official comfirmation about his departure yet so don't worry haha

Linus

01-30-2007, 10:11 PM

Sorry I am little confused. I thought LCW has already achieved some successes when he was still under Misbun. The arrival of LM was expected to bring him to a new height, hence Misbun should be given due credit on the development of LCW to where he is today.

Can anyone who is more familiar with BAM draw up a time line showing the milestones of LCW against the arrival of LM so that we can have a good overview of LCW's succeses before and after LM took over?

Thanks in advance.

jug8man

01-30-2007, 10:16 PM

Well, life goes on!

Maybe BAM should dig deep into their pockets and hire the legendary managers like Mourinho & Ferguson. :D

TBBMBB(N)

tjl_vanguard

01-31-2007, 01:54 AM

Well, life goes on!

Maybe BAM should dig deep into their pockets and hire the legendary managers like Mourinho & Ferguson. :D

TBBMBB(N)
and then LCW shall return LD's killer smash with his foot.... my my.... i can even imagine it now haha

01353

02-01-2007, 01:47 AM

okok...are there any chance for lee hyunil to join 08olympics?

Malaysianfan

02-01-2007, 05:01 AM

Sad...Sad...It is confirmed that Li Mao has gone back to teach the Korean team. I read in a chinese newspaper today.What is going to happen with LCW?

nwy5633

02-01-2007, 05:02 AM

i juz get a confirm by local chinese newspaper...
Li Mao is going to coach Korea for sure...:eek:
seem like Korea will be getting stronger & stronger now...
how will malaysia men singles player solve this problem???
maybe now i know why LCW performance slipping down...
should misbun coach them back??
so many question...:crying:

Dreamzz

02-01-2007, 05:04 AM

i wonder what BAM were paying LM compared to what the Koreans are paying, possibly a lot less. unless he's just fed up with MAS MS, like KBH for instance!
:D

01353

02-01-2007, 05:44 AM

and i thougt Li mao could help kuan benghong a lot.
what a pity!!!!

jas1121

02-01-2007, 07:09 AM

Any plans for BAM to hire a new coach? I wish they do. yea, could be LCW knew LM was going to leave that is why his performance is dropping.

2cents

02-01-2007, 07:53 AM

It's for sure that Li Mao got very little paid from Malaysia. Not even a small portion comparing to Rexy, but much less money even than an illegal immigrant. That's the reason Li Mao's leaving. He complained that already. BAM used to pay Frost, Park pretty good money, and now Rexy got a close to that salary. Rexy's plus Li Mao's together, are comparable what Frost got a decade ago. While Rexy's is close to Frost's, and Li Mao's is negligible. It's like this:

Frost > Park > Rexy > > > Li Mao

Chinese from mainland China are just cheap labors. :) and they have to work hard also.

Korea must have realized that Li Mao's importance to their singles. When Li Mao was there, Korea did pretty good in singles, but now, their singles both men and women (Li Mao coached both before) are out of competitions now.

ants

02-01-2007, 08:04 AM

Currently BAM have no plans of hiring foreign coaches as there is not suitable candidate at the moment.

cooler

02-01-2007, 11:11 AM

Qidong

02-01-2007, 11:25 AM

pay: Frost > Park > Rexy > > > Li Mao

result: Frost < Park < Rexy < < < Li Mao

LOL, how ironic

The same formula applied to many other areas also.

pay: CEO >>>>> engineers
result: CEO <<<<<< engineers

Honestly, even 5000 US Dollars/month is not that much for one of the best coaches in the world. I heard some of the badminton coaches in California made more than that.

Malaysianfan

02-01-2007, 03:48 PM

chibe_K

02-01-2007, 06:02 PM

Bad news for BAM, there is only one direction that its heading, downhill !

Loh

02-01-2007, 07:32 PM

Bad news for BAM, there is only one direction that its heading, downhill !

I wouldn't say that. Most would agree that LCW is on par with the top players and it will be entirely up to him to motivate himself to play better. No matter how much a coach can do, ultimately it is up to the player himself whether he wants to be the champ

Your statement is so general that it seems to include the entire Malaysian team. We know that the doubles pairs are doing relatively well.

Anyway we need to wait for further news from BAM.

ants

02-01-2007, 07:35 PM

BAM needs to becareful in treating their future coaches. I dont want Rexy to be the next one.

Dimduo_81

02-01-2007, 07:36 PM

I think it boils down to politics..Yeah, BAM should revise their salary structure or give guidelines or something. There use to be one good Indonesian coach in the Malaysian camp, all players liked him a lot, but he left just like that and is now with KL Racquet Club. ( I'm sure you ppl know who that is) I suspect they all leave for the same reason, lack of recognition, appreciation and biasness. Frustrating..isn't it?

cheeyf

02-01-2007, 07:42 PM

I still wonder y li mao wanna leave when he has done well in bringing lcw up.
is he not happy in MAS?
nway ya i agree w u loh
d most important thing is urself
u can hav d best coach in d world but x do ur part, it's still no use
nway hope lcw will do better despite li mao is leaving
:(

xymaerts

02-01-2007, 07:50 PM

I am so sad to read the below news..:(

By RAJES PAUL
PETALING JAYA: Chinese coach Li Mao has left Malaysia to rejoin South Korea and it has thrown a spanner in the works of Lee Chong Wei's preparation for the World Badminton Championships.
And the 25-year-old national number one, who has set his sights on winning the championships, which will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from Aug 13-19, hopes that Li Mao would explain his reasons for leaving abruptly when he returns to Malaysia after the Chinese New Year holidays on Feb 20.
Li Mao, who left for China after his last assignment with the national team at the Korean Open last week, has yet to officially inform the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) of his decision to leave the national team.
National chief coach Yap Kim Hock confirmed yesterday that Li Mao signed a contract with the Korean BA during the Korean Open and he was expected to begin work in Seoul in March.
Prior to joining the BAM in 2005, Li Mao had taken the Korean men's singles players to greater heights.
His two-year contract in Malaysia expired on Dec 31. But instead of renewing it until the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the National Sports Council (NSC) sat on it.
For now, Kim Hock said that women's singles coach Wong Tat Meng would take over the job of handling the men's players.
http://www.thestar.com.my/archives/2007/2/2/sports/leadpicbadchongwei.JPG Chong Wei (left) hopes Li Mao would explain why he quit the team.
It is unlikely that the BAM would hire a foreigner immediately and the Sidek brothers – Misbun and Rashid – are seen as the better candidates to take charge of the men's singles department.
Misbun is currently with the national team and he coaches Mohd Hafiz Hashim while Rashid is the chief coach of the Project 2010-12 squad.
“We did not expect this. I called him two days ago (in China) and he confirmed that he has joined the Korean BA,” said Kim Hock.
“He is a professional coach and making decisions like this is normal. We have to accept it.
“Now, we have to decide on the coaching structure for the men's singles at the next BAM's coaching and training committee meeting. The show goes on for us. Tat Meng has learnt a lot under Li Mao and he will take care of the men's players for now.”
Chong Wei, who reached the number one spot for the first time – albeit for a short period – under the charge of Li Mao, was disappointed.
“No, I did not hear this news from Li Mao. He dropped hints during the Korean Open but I thought it was a joke,” said Chong Wei.
“When he comes back from his break, hopefully, we can have dinner together. I hope he will tell all of us (the men's singles players) about his decision. Was it because of me? The BAM? Or was it the country? We want to hear why he chose to leave.”
Chong Wei's performances have dropped since his elimination in the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Madrid last September.
Now ranked at world number five, he hopes that his preparation for the upcoming world meet will not be affected.
“It takes a while for me to get used to the styles of a new coach. In fact, it took me half a year to get used to Li Mao's coaching methods. There are only six months to go to the world meet,” said Chong Wei.
“I have to make the best out of the situation. My immediate task is to concentrate on the All-England (in Birmingham from March 6-11).”
Under the charge of Li Mao, except for the achievements of Chong Wei and Wong Choong Hann, there was nothing to shout about from the others.

taneepak

02-01-2007, 08:17 PM

When Li Mao was hired, he wanted his performance as a coach to be judged on the number of only the really important silverwares, like the Asian Games, the Olympics, and the World Championship, that his charges can bring home. He has won not a single one. Rexy, with hardly 6 months on the job, has done just that-an important silverware in the Asian Games MD.
I think coaches should be rewarded well only if they achieve their objectives.

Loh

02-01-2007, 08:33 PM

Well, I'm surprised to learn of such great disparities in paying the coaches, if what was said is true. The authorities must know that unhappiness over such differences will surface sooner or later. They can't prevent the facts from being disclosed forever as society becomes more transparent.

Li Mao's case is interesting as he first coached in South Korea before going to Malaysia. Surely his Malaysian pay must be better than what he recieved in Korea, otherwise there is no incentive to leave. But, if I recall, he also left for other personal reasons, which means he wasn't really that happy coaching in Korea the last time. This time round, hopefully he will find his terms and conditions more agreeable.

Life is full of surprises and contradictions! Whilst Malaysia's own Tan Kim Her wants to return home to coach, he was denied the opportunity. Li Mao seeminly is still needed in Malaysia, but he chose to leave!

On the question of pay, we can't deny that there is a big gulf between the developed and developing countres. People working in the same positions and performing more or less the same functions are paid differently. Developed countries pay much more than developing countries. The cost of living in the former, on the other hand, is higher in general. A relatively higher pay may be one way to compensate the higher cost in developed countries. This is one reason, apart from the coach's reputation, Frost was paid much more than Li, as one member here claimed.

To Li, his pay packet and other benefits must be more than acceptable, otherwise he wouldn't have left South Korea in the first place. The relative value of his services must be much higher than if he were to coach at home in China. Similarly, Frost, or other of his counterparts, must feel that he is getting something worthy of his services compared to what is available at home. Of course there are other non-financial considerations why they want to coach overseas like a change of enivronment, opportunity to learn a new culture, etc.

But while Li Mao may feel that the US$5,000 pay he is getting from his new assignment is well worth his effort, this may be considered rather low for a coach in a developed country in the West or even for some in the East such as Japan. So most things are relative.

kwun

02-01-2007, 08:44 PM

we can only guess what the real reason(s) are.

but here is a line from the article that i think also contribute to it:

His two-year contract in Malaysia expired on Dec 31. But instead of renewing it until the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the National Sports Council (NSC) sat on it.
so here is Li Mao, without a contract while the NSC isn't signing one, and then probably getting paid lower than his peers, and then Korea BA comes in and said, "hey, if you come back, we will sign a contract with you right now and pay you better salary." the decision is not hard to make.

MAS: continue uncertainty, low pay, authorities dragging their feet
KOR: contract right away, higher pay.

IMHO, kudos to Li Mao for making a decisive choice on his career.

tjl_vanguard

02-01-2007, 09:37 PM

it must have been the politics in the association itself... has been goin on and on for decades...
BAM must stop tat...

yannie

02-02-2007, 04:58 AM

Badzine Link on Li Mao.
http://www.badzine.info/content/view/183/2/

orchiid

02-02-2007, 05:30 AM

and Limao said he will pay attention to lee chongwei and other malaysia players

Jessica

02-02-2007, 05:34 AM

Ya...I saw the news today.Li Mao said that although he leave mas but he will still try his best with his own ways to guide LCW in the All England but this must depends to the BAM...

sopho

02-02-2007, 06:27 AM

Li Mao did bring LCW to a different level, we MAS should thank him.

Qidong

02-02-2007, 09:08 AM

Ya...I saw the news today.Li Mao said that although he leave mas but he will still try his best with his own ways to guide LCW in the All England but this must depends to the BAM...

I think this is not easy even both Li Mao and LCW want it. Really depends on LCW's new coach. If they have very different style, I bet the new coach doesn't want Li Mao to involve at all. And if LCW wins All England, the new coach may worry that Li Mao takes part of the credit.

tbleong

02-02-2007, 08:16 PM

Wow!another hot title! Li Mao Was leaving to Korea. Then LCW lost a good coach! then we should look at LHI already!!
anyway,LCW pls dunt give up, you good is because you got the talent. wake up ANG GAIN BACK W/：1

bellatrix

02-02-2007, 09:45 PM

who gonna replace him you think? will misbun come back?????

tbleong

02-02-2007, 09:53 PM

Replacement will be Misbun,rashid,or 1 chinese guy, forgot his name. but, BAM said that will not take foreigher already//

bellatrix

02-02-2007, 09:58 PM

i hope it is not misbun coz his style is not suit with chong wei fast play. look at hafiz... uh! and really hope BAM gonna find someone suit enough for this all england tournament.

Ethan

02-02-2007, 10:43 PM

Replacement will be Misbun,rashid,or 1 chinese guy, forgot his name. but, BAM said that will not take foreigher already//

You mean Wong Tat Meng ? I hope it will be Rashid more than Misbun because he has all the info about the youth project and he can bring them up and spar with the seniors which can first, improve the quality of the senior and keep them on their toes and secondly improve the level of the backups to replace the seniors in the future.

alfa2

02-02-2007, 10:47 PM

BAM will b needing some new blood in the MS department, coach and players as well, if they're to excel in 2008 olympic.

tbleong

02-02-2007, 11:07 PM

You mean Wong Tat Meng ? I hope it will be Rashid more than Misbun because he has all the info about the youth project and he can bring them up and spar with the seniors which can first, improve the quality of the senior and keep them on their toes and secondly improve the level of the backups to replace the seniors in the future.

yES, you are right, the chinese guy us wong tat meng.
actually, what kim hock is doing?? he not train player???

Kamen

02-03-2007, 10:59 AM

i hope it is not misbun coz his style is not suit with chong wei fast play. look at hafiz... uh! and really hope BAM gonna find someone suit enough for this all england tournament.

exactly! misbun is xxxless. i think he is still the national coach because Mal is grateful for his past contribution. I think his coaching style and techniques are out-dated. just look at hafiz. he is a great player but under his guidance, hafiz is not going anywhere now.

event

02-03-2007, 06:44 PM

we can only guess what the real reason(s) are.

but here is a line from the article that i think also contribute to it::

Quote:
His two-year contract in Malaysia expired on Dec 31. But instead of renewing it until the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the National Sports Council (NSC) sat on it.
so here is Li Mao, without a contract while the NSC isn't signing one, and then probably getting paid lower than his peers, and then Korea BA comes in and said, "hey, if you come back, we will sign a contract with you right now and pay you better salary." the decision is not hard to make.

MAS: continue uncertainty, low pay, authorities dragging their feet
KOR: contract right away, higher pay.

IMHO, kudos to Li Mao for making a decisive choice on his career.Here's another interesting tidbit from a Malaysian paper (http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2007/1/26/sports/16688134&sec=sports), quoting Yap Kim Hock on Jan. 26th:

"I will wait for his result tomorrow (Chong Wei will play against China’s Chen Jin). Coach Li Mao will have to answer if his performance is not up to the mark.”

Hmm, my contract expired a month ago and my boss is making veiled threats when talking to the press...