BIRMINGHAM: Malaysia's Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah never recovered from a disputable call in the closing stages of the second game and went on to concede defeat to Denmark's Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen in the All-England men's doubles final at the National Indoor Arena here yesterday. The Malaysians had looked good to chalk up their biggest career win but in the end surrendered the match at 15-9, 13-15, 3-15. Tan Fook-Wan Wah had won the first game and held the lead at 13-11 in the second game when the umpire decided to give a point to the Danes even though Wan Wah was not ready to receive serve from Lundgaard Hansen. Wan Wah disputed the call and was shown the yellow card. Play resumed and the Danes went on to force the rubber. The Malaysians' game fell apart completely in the decider and they had to settle for second best in the world's oldest tournament. Tan Fook-Wan Wah played well in the first and second game. Adopting a jab and drive strategy to their opponents’ body, they had a whirlwind start and raced to a 9-0 lead. The Danes staged a fightback but it was too late to stop the Malaysians from winning the game. The Malaysians also did well with the same strategy and led 12-5 before the Danes narrowed the deficit to 10-12. Then came the disputable call by the umpire and it led to Tan Fook's and Wah Wah's failure to score the biggest win of their career since making their international debut at the Asian Badminton Championships in 1995. Tan Fook-Wan Wah had played in eight other finals on the world circuit and were winners in the Open tournaments of Vietnam (1996), Singapore (1999), Holland (1999) and Germany (1999). They were the losers in the Open tournaments of Malaysian (1996), Japan (2002) and Hong Kong and China (last year). With the defeat, Malaysia's hopes of winning an All-England title for a second consecutive year also went up in smoke. Last year, Mohd Hafiz Hashim won the men's singles title for the first time for Malaysia in 37 years. Tan Fook-Wan Wah are only the second Malaysian pair to reach the final after Yap Kim Hock-Cheah Soon Kit in 1996. The last time Malaysia won the men's doubles title was in 1982 through Razif-Jalani Sidek. Kim Hock, who is now the Malaysian doubles chief coach, admitted that the call by the umpire against his pair at a crucial stage broke their rhythm. “We felt that the point should not have been given to the Danes. But they should have accepted it as part and parcel of the game,” he said. “They should have got back into the game because they still had a chance. But they allowed it to affect their game. “They were left with little ideas and fighting spirit in the rubber game. They certainly lost their best chance to win the All-England.”
There was no broadcasting in China TV so I was anticipating the contribution from your avid fans in this forum. It was really disappointed for the whole Malaysian fans that Lee / Chong just gave up the game so tamely in the rubber set. A disputed call against Lee / Chong was a blow for them but as a veteran in badminton era for the past few years, they should be perpared for it and accept it as a part of the game. I remembered there were some dispute calls against the Mal pairs on previous occasions (Forgot what tournament was that) but they failed to learn from the lessons. These fellows are not young anymore and how many close opportunity they have to take the AE championship??? There are many rising stars coming up. See how many titles they have achieved since they paired?? You can ignore it. We all know that Chong is really bad temper and blamed Lee in the past and they did not communicate friendly by heart. L / C should know that they are not only fighting the pride for the themselves but indeed for the entire Malaysians. I hope the BAM and Yap Kim Hock should learn and focus on players psychology. Players who behave like Rexy / Ricky and Park Joo Bong and Kim Bong Soo will only become super players. We realized those players also confronted unfair calls against them but they still managed to calm down and concentrate the next. Hope L / C will become more mature in the coming Thomas cup.//
Personally I think they were robbed by the umpire. What Happened: Lee had his hand up to halt the serve, put it down, then up again, eriksen serve, and umpire gave danish a point. Lee very upset, as claimed he wasnt ready. Although lee was putting his hand up before eriksens serve previousley, and it had upset eriksens rhythm, if he wasnt ready, then you cannot call a point. There are two things wrong here: 1.Lee wan wah possibly using sportsmanship to upset danish rhythm, by delaying service (he didnt seem to do it on luungard-hansens service) 2.Eriksen Doesnt look at the opponent until after service has been taken, therefor cannot see if opponent ready. Ulucky for the malaysians I still think it should have been a let. But well done to danish, they were consistent, and didnt give up. Choong and lee, need to have more mental strength though, imo.
