NATIONAL top singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei (pic) has accepted the blame for the failure of the Malaysian men's singles players at the Thomas Cup Finals. And he is making no excuses. Instead, he has promised to make up for the disappointment by reaching his first ever-final at the World Championships at Madrid from Sept 18-24. On Friday, Malaysia, in the absence of skipper Wong Choong Hann lost 2-3 to Denmakr after a five-hour semi-final at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. All three points were conceded by the men singles players – Chong Wei, Mohd Hafiz Hashim and Kuan Beng Hong. The 24-year-old Chong Wei, who went down 19-21, 18-21 to Peter Gade-Christensen, said he had let the country down. “The team were down after Choong Hann's misfortune (he snapped his Achilles tendon). I was named as the assistant skipper of the team. It was my responsibility to get Malaysia off to a good start but I failed,” lamented the world number two. “I should be blamed for the failure, not Hafiz or Beng Hong. For a first timer, Beng Hong could not cope under the great pressure. Hafiz went down 22-20, 12-21, 17-21 to Kenneth Jonassen. It was his fourth defeat in their five meetings. In the decider, the 23-year-old Beng Hong was beaten 12-21, 19-21 by Joachim Persson “Of the three, on paper, I had the better record against Peter. But the Dane has read my game so well.” Chong Wei said he was prepared for a hostile reception when he gets back home but he was bent on regaining the faith of the Malaysians. “I will be playing in the Indonesian Open (May 31-June 4) and the Malaysian Open (May 13-18). Hopefully, I will be able to defend the Malaysian Open title to give the home crowd something to cheer about after this disappointment,” he said. “But my next main goal is the World Championships. I reached the semi-finals in US last year. This time, I aim to go one step better. I will continue to improve my game under the 21x3 format.” On the other main contenders for the world meet, Chong Wei picked Gade-Christensen, Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat, South Korea's Lee Hyun-il and China's Lin Dan, Bao Chunlai and Chen Jin. “But of the lot, Peter seems to be the better player under the 21x3 format.” In a jest, he added: “This format will probably keep the Dane going for another five years.” On the future of the Malaysian men's singles department, Chong Wei said: “Hafiz, Beng Hong and I will be here for some time. It will be great if Choong Hann can return quickly. But we need some new faces. “Like Indonesia, we do have good juniors coming up the ranks. Currently, I see promise in Liew Daren (from the Project 2010-12 squad). But these players need to be sent out for overseas tournaments regularly. “Players lose interest when they are kept too long in training. They lose the motivation.” Chong Wei and his teammates will return home tomorrow. All have been given a one-week break.
in order to become the best player you must accept defeat and admid your fault.. only then theres room for improvement Chong Wei certainly one of the best player.. but made far too many unforce error.. hopefully he will do better next time!
Everyone's always blaming individual players, when I thought this was/is a TEAM-event, wich means you win or lose as a team.
Chong Wei has been winning his matches so far. there's huge pressure being first singles.. i think he shouldn't be blamed. especially peter gade being a very good player... hafiz should be blamed...
nevermind la.. lets get over all this blaming thing. whenever there's a match, we know we'll support & cheer them like mad anyway.
Aii yoooo...... let say if MAS in the Final, I also don't think MAS can beat CHN lah. So nevermind lah.... at least they learned somthing, especially KBH. Sure he will do better if he has selected for the next TC.
actually on theories...LCW should take Peter down...it was a dissapointment. Anyway...not anyone should be blame on this loss...if you wanna blame..blame it on luck. Ganbateh on the next tournament. Cheer back up! LCW..go beat LD on your next one.
Why we lost and whether we an do anything about it ? I dare say we lost because some of the guys were not fit (at least 3/4 fit compared to the Danes and Chinese). Except for Lee Chong Wei everyone else (singles players I mean) is 3/4 fit. Chong Wei clearly lost to a pumped up Peter Gades who got Lee on the run and you need to be 110% to win against Peter on that day --- I think Lin Dan would be glad he did not have to play Peter first (I think the game against Lee Chong Wei would have used up Peter a bit). Hafiz is NOT FIT ! He used up his energy in the first game -- gave up easy on the second because he could not go on with it. In the third, he tried hard but his fitness gave way --- everyone could see he was struggling (and he tried to win using trick shots so that he can conserve energy, which works to his demise). Hafiz, there are easy wins these day --- everyone is fit. Forget about trick shots go for fitness (look at Kenneth, at 31 he is still fit as a melee bull and can even run the marathon as reported). Turning up to practice everyday is not going to be go enough. You must train under a physical trainer --- like Nicol David. Forget about badminton if you are not up to it. The same with Kuan Beng Hong (he started out with winning smashes and then we would see him more and more doing drop shots --- his shoulders dropped with his energy sapping). I feel Misbun might have been too kind on them on their fitness. Li Mao has been driving the guys hard on fitness (I think Lee Chong Wei benefited greatly from this --- he has done pretty well). Learn from the Chinese as well as the Danes --- they are fitness fanatics. Even if you are a great player you cannot win if you are unfit --- look at Taufik (he is half the fitness he was when he won the Olympics) which is a good example. One cannot 'wing it' --- the Chinese have been dominating for years because of their fitness (the danes too) --- from the Yang Yang days to current (all their champions have one thing in common --- fitness!). So when are the Malaysian going to learn (and for that matter the Administrative people of sports in Malaysia --- WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!). Nicol David proves the point !!!!! We must hire Fitness trainers ---- NOT just coaches (which should be used only for tactical training). Get real or we will be as lousy and pathetic as we are.
i agree with X-ball...we have to improve on our fitness...but i will be surprise we don't have a fitness trainer to start with...@.@
i thought these words should come out from the mouth of a coach? msia should feel happy to have player like chong wei
Also, Mal coaches should realize they cannot rely too much on player in top form to win a tournament. They need to produce players who are still able to win in finals even their fitness is at 70% peak. Look at team Mal, they always start out strong in any major tournaments and then gradually go downhill when approaching quarters or semis....this is normal as fatigue kicks in. The rule is simple, if team Mal wants to beat other teams, especially China.....JUST TRAIN SMARTER AND HARDER THAN OTHERS !
Malaysia Boleh ..... betul ke boleh lagi? How long we already shouting this slogan? and which time we really boleh? Hahahaha...... I think this slogan really idiot. "jia you" is better, if we lose then we keep on Jia You until success. But "Boleh", when we lose then is it still consider Boleh?
But "jia you" is in the Chinese language and this is not the national language of Malaysia. If you use jy, you lose some of your identity and uniqueness. Furthermore, jy is not a slogan as such as it can be used generally and simply means "to add more fuel; to increase your energy level". It is just a word of encouragement. On the other hand "Malaysia Boleh" (Malaysia Can) is one of a kind and it could also mean if you can't make it this time, you can in the future. It still brings hope and keeps the player working harder each time to achieve his goal because Malaysia Boleh... Returing to LCW's case, although it was a disappointment, he should not put too much blame on himself. I'm sure he tried his best but Peter Gade played better on the day. As Peter himself has said during one of his interviews, there is little difference among the world's top five singles players. Depending on circumstances, any of them can win or lose to the other. We can't be too sure!
The problem with Malaysians generally is that they work hard only when coaches are around. They relax when they are not around. In other words, they are not independent or at same level of maturity as the Chinese and Danish. I read from the local press recently where one ex-hockey administrator commented that Malaysians like to take short cuts for example, when the coach assigned them to run, say 10 miles, they would find ways to cut it to 5 by taking a taxi, taking a ride from friends, using a shorter route, etc. No wonder we have unfit players. Not sure whether the badminton players behaved like this but agree with you that some players looked unfit in Thomas Cup.
You will need more than physical trainers ....consultants are required to mould the players into the professionalism world. X-Ball mentioned about Nicol David...yeah look at her when NSC decided that she trained under one of their physical trainers, her endurance drops and did win anything since then
I think LCW should not blame himself for the defeat because, there's no one to be blamed really!!! They or everyone should shake off all the "why;s" or "what if's" because there's no point wondering or questioning people's faults or responsibilities. They should learn from experiences, the past should only be a brief reflection and the future is yet to be realized, so, keep training hard both players and coaches, physically and mentally! Learn from the strengths of others and correct their own weakness! Come on Malaysia!!! We fans TRULY, MADLY and DEEPLY wish you guys all the best for the future!TO LCW, it's going to be okay, we know it will be because we know you! Such a kind and diligent player!
I read somewhere from the local chinese press, it is said that Chong Wei shouldn't be assigned as the Captain. It only added more unnecassary pressure on him. They took Thierry Henry of English football club giant Arsenal as example. Henry was assigned as the captain after the departure of Vieira. And Henry's performance dropped as well after that, as the burden on his shoulder suddenly became heavy. Some Arsenal veterans even called that Henry shouldn't be made the captain. His task is to score goals for his club. That should be the only task, so that he can stay focused on that. Same goes for Chong Wei. He should be focused to grab the first point for Malaysia. Henry's performance was back to his normal level after some time. But this isn't the same case for Chong Wei. Chong Wei only had 1 day to adapt, but Henry used months to adapt. And Chong Wei is only 24, while Henry is 28, which is more matured. Either Wan Wah or Tan Fook would be a perfect candidate for the captain role, not Chong Wei
Peter is one helluva smart player, to me he's one of todays smartest player, he usually beats people who are skillwise and physically better than him by using his head...I salute him, i knew LCW wouldnt have it easy and it wasnt surprising he lost, PG is just too damn good at reading ppl's game, this is something LCW has to learn from this veteran
