Badminton/Thomas-Uber Cup: Malaysians lack the passion to win NSTP emedia MALAYSIA will never win the Thomas Cup if players do not play with passion. The Malaysians lost 3-1 to hosts Indonesia at the Istora Senayan last night. It is not as if the Indonesians had superior players. In fact, our singles players were ranked higher than some of the Indonesians. Lee Chong Wei picked up an ankle injury in the match against Thailand and was excluded from the Malaysian line-up. That paved the way for Mohd Hafiz Hashim to play the third singles. It was something that was forced upon coach Misbun Sidek as he surely would have played Chong Wei in the second string instead of Roslin Hashim. Still there was no reason for the Malaysian singles players to perform as they did. "We were hoping for Choong Hann to beat Sony (Dwi Kuncoro) to give us the first point but that failed to materialise," conceded Misbun. "Our line-up is an open and shut case. Hence, we can only rely on players who are fit and available. "It is disappointing but we have to accept reality that the Indonesians are better than us." But the Malaysian players ought to take cue from their opponents. What the Indonesians lacked in terms of technique and skills, they made up with sheer determination and true grit. They were proud to play for their country and the 10,000 passionate crowd, who packed the Istora Senayan, urged them on every inch of the way. While the singles players failed, Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chew Choon Eng-Koo Kien Keat deserved all the credit for their fighting spirits. Tan Fook-Wan Wah were in their element and hardly put a foot wrong as they defeated Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto 15-12, 15-6. Choon Eng-Kien Keat, despite being a scratch pair, never gave up and took the veteran Indonesian duo of Flandy Limple-Eng Hian to three games before losing 9-15, 15-13, 12-15. In the wake of the disappointment, in the press and on the streets there are bound to be various post-mortems, mostly in the nature of second-guessing coach Misbun's line-up. Did his singles player's play too conservatively, giving too much respect to their opponents only to lose when the opponents took the initiative? Should he have gone with this player rather than that player in the second and third singles? The words of Indonesian coach Christian Hadinata almost sound like a prophecy now. Christian had said from the onset of the tournament that the players who were expected to win had to win, while those who were expected to lose had to try every trick in the book to win. How true were his remarks for in the match last night, the players who were expected to win did not win. Choong Hann was a disappointment in his defeat at the hands of Indonesian youngster. Roslin was at sea in his match against Taufik Hidayat, and it was a wonder as to why he was fielded in the first place. Misbun had said that his line-up would depend on the players form as well as his past record against their prospective opponents. The bottom line is Misbun should not have played Roslin against Taufik as the Malaysian had lost in all their previous meetings. Roslin could not take advantage of a player that was obviously affected by his misdemeanor on Monday where he was involved in a scuffle with a motorist. So the Thomas and Uber Cup teams are going home earlier than they wanted to or expected. But nevertheless the girls with every reason to hold their heads high while the boys will have a lot of answering to do.
Only applicable to those singles players (Choon Han/Roslin). Both M'sian doubles had more passion than Indon doubles.
