Malaysia national doubles chief/coach Yap Kim Hock reminded Choong tan fook and Lee Wan Wah that they(Choong/Lee) still not first class doubles yet, although Choong/Lee have been continuously the semi-finalists in many recent tournaments. Yap defined it clearly. No matter how many titles you got, you still yet first class pairs unless you can beat one of the following four double pairs: 1) Candra Wijaya / Halim Haryanto 2) Sigit Budiarto / Tri Kush 3) Ha / Kim 4) Lee / Yoo and Yap also indicated that only the above pairs are first class pairs. Choong/Lee will probably meet Halim/Candra in the third round of All England. So Yap urged Choong/Lee beat Halim/Candra, and become a first class. But if Halim/Candra fail to survive the early rounds, then Choong/Lee will loss the chance becoming a first class doubles. But Halim/Candra and also other three "first class" have already lost to many doubles even at early rounds or late rounds. How ccome other pairs can never become a first class? According to Yap, (if his logic had no pitfalls), only those four pairs are permenant first class, and Choong/Lee are the only first class candidate. Is that a discrimination or prejustice?
(John McEnroe-style) You can't be serious. There are a couple of names missing there: 1) Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng 2) Lars Paaske / Jonas Rasmussen 3) Flande Limpele / Eng Hian I doubt it's prejudice or anything but more of Yap's own assessment on the capabilities of the two. I'd agree with him for that matter, because you can see from the list there, the teams such as Kim/Ha as well as Lee/Yoo are almost expected to win all their ties, and they can consistently beat other top pairs of the world. As for Candra / Halim, the pair had just been formed last year, while Choong / Lee had been there for a very long time. Their lost in the early rounds would have a lot to do with their partnership 'teething' problems, thus I still think they will only get better and become one of the top doubles pair from Indonesia challenging the 'big boys' of world badminton. What is missing there, I think is Yap's word on "consistency". He probably meant "world class" as in : vs Rookies - 99~100% success vs 2nd Ranked - 80~90% vs 1st Ranked - 60~70% vs World Top 5 - 45~50% So far, my own assesment of Choong / Lee based on last year: vs Rookies - 70~85% vs 2nd Ranked - 50 ~ 65% vs 1st Ranked - 35 ~ 55% vs World Top 5 - 5 ~ 20% Note that these figures are to put a point across and not precise evaluation.
bingo with wilfredlgf... i would hesitate to rate sigit/trikus as a first class pair. All the four pairs mentioned by Yap are on their way out of international competition: Kim/Ha are both 28 Lee/Yoo are both 29 Candra/Halim are 28 Sigit/Trikus are 30 and 28 respectively come to think of it, lee/choong are both 28 as well
Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaardmay be proof of this... but sigit really lookslike he is about to fall apart...
Wow, Choong tan fook and Lee Wan Wah are so good, and fought all the way to the final. If they did not meet any other competitors, I don't think it's Choong/Lee's fault. In another word, any pair, who didn't meet Choong/Lee, were at least 2 levels below Choong/Lee. Ironically, Choong/Lee didn't meet any of those 4 first class pairs defined by Yap Kim Hock, which was exactly what I expected before AE. All those 4 first class pairs disappered sooner than meet with Choong/Lee, then by Yap Kim Hock's definition, Choong/Lee is still 2nd class pair. I really doubt Yap's ability to coach and vision for current doubles.
Yeah, how can Yap be the coach of Choong/Lee? The last game before Yap retired, the Commanwealth Games Finals, Yap/Cheah lost to Choong/Lee 2 straight games. How can the loser be the coach of the winner?