The Star - August 11, 2005 KUALA LUMPUR: The national shuttlers for the World Championships have been warned to keep their game hot or face being left out in the cold when they return from sunny California. On the eve of the team's departure for Anaheim, chief coach Yap Kim Hock made this clear to the players after they wrapped up training at the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara here yesterday. “I have told all of them that our (coaches) target is for them to play to their rankings form,” said Kim Hock. “If they are seeded, they have to live up to their status and not lose to opponents ranked lower than them. If they fail, we may not send them to compete in Open tournaments after the world championships.” The tournaments on the calendar are the inaugural China Masters in Beijing (Aug 31-Sept 4), Asian Championships in Hyderabad (Sept 6-11), Indonesian Open (Sept 20-25), Dutch Open (Oct 11-16), Danish Open (Oct 18-23), Hong Kong Open (Nov 1-6), China Open (Nov 8-13), Taiwan Open (Nov 15-20) and the Manila SEA Games (Nov 27-Dec 5). Malaysia are placing high hopes on the men's singles players. Lee Chong Wei is the fifth seed and Mohd Hafiz Hashim is seeded at number eight. Veteran Wong Choong Hann, the runner-up in the previous championships in Birmingham two years ago, is seen as the dark horse for the title. Malaysia also have the men's pair of Choong Tan Fook-Chew Choon Eng and the women's combination of Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty as the eight and seventh seeds respectively and they are expected to reach at least the quarter-finals. The others in the 21-member Malaysian squad are Koo Kien Keat-Chan Chong Ming, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui and Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock (men's doubles); Wong Mew Choo, M. Sutheaswari (women's singles); Mooi Hing Yau-Ooi Sock Ai, Fong Chew Yen-See Phui Leng and Lim Pek Siah-Chor Hooi Yee (women's doubles). Sutheaswari, Pek Siah and Hooi Yee, who quit the national team three years ago, will make the trip on their own expenses. The Anaheim-bound players were in a relaxed mood after training ended earlier than usual. Chong Ming, Bin Shen, Soon Hock and Choon Eng played a “game”, challenging each other to see who could throw the covers of the shuttle containers nearest to a target. Said Kim Hock: “They will be leaving early tomorrow. We just had a light training session. The shorter time is also to give the players and also the coaches more time to pack their bag and finish their errands.”
China staying cool though China has no gold medal target in World Badminton Aug 11, 2005 01:17:00 PM Beijing, Aug 11 (PTI) China will use the upcoming World badminton championships to assess its top players for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a senior official said here today. "Our major purpose is to assess the players, so that we could make more detailed preparations for Beijing Games. "We would not set any gold medal quota on the team, instead we only require them to perform to their best," chef de mission of the Chinese delegation, Liu Fengyan said. "The world championships will serve as one of the tests for the Chinese team in the build-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics," Xinhua news agency quoted Liu as saying. The Chinese players will depart for Anaheim in USA tomorrow. PTI
I saw on CCTV an interview at Chinese team after Lin Dan lost in Malaysia Open. One of the player commented that the focus of the team was really on WC2005, not Malaysia Open. In other words, my interpretation is they did not take it seriously. Now they say the focus is on Olympics 2005 !!! What a joke, the event is still 3 years away. I heard similar comment on CCTV interviews at other sport teams from China as well, they all say the focus is Beijing 2005. It sounds like the China team gives no chance to others and set such a high expectation on themselves....quite scary.
It is not surprising the China team are already preparing for the Olympics. If you look at the publicity, attention and all the perks the medal winners got, a normal 'open' win is nothing to compared to it. A lot of them were propelled into celebrities in their own right. Having tasted Gold, I don't think settling for Silver or Bronze would be contemplated.
