ABC Final

[amaze]

Malaysian fans are a fanatic lot... but many are also conditional supporters

Sometimes in our overzealous - ness, we indirectly contribute to the 'downfall' of our 'heroes'....

What don't we give them space and time, instead of analysing each and every stroke during play or facial expression of the players that we love ?

As some of us say, if you love them, now's the time to leave them alone. Keep the celebrations to the minimum.

[CLELY]

Not surprised at all about TH triumphant yesterday, lack of top-names here. The real-arena to test TH absolutely is level-2 tourneys as we know the next two South-East Asia SS will be star-studded. And TH will give all-out performance in Jakarta to save face of INA badminton, quite slim chance to grab the title from other four divisions.

It's hard to believe CHN still shows their power in this ABC with three all-CHN-final, they so thirsty to win something. Strong dominance!

Akhirnya, INA dapet gelar juga! Almost all INA prime newspapers in today's edition express it.

[yuqiu]

Monday, 16 April 2007 The 2007 BAC Championship concluded with several hot shots being cooled: 3/4 seed Jiang Yan Jiao's bravo upset of 2nd seed Lu Lan in the women’s singles event, Taufik depleting Chen Hong’s reserves in straight sets, as well as Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook’s demolition of Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong that will probably get tongues wagging for the next few days to say the least.

by J Lin reporting live from Bandaraya Stadium, Johor Bahru


Actually, if you are to google ‘hot shots badminton’, chances are you will be returned results of articles on Malaysia’s world number 10 men’s doubles pair Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong whose partnership of barely 6 months have already swiftly snatched up 3 out of the 4 Super Series titles this year.

It is no wonder, ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the Johor Bahru crowd at this year’s finals had surrendered their sleep-in Sunday to have their attendance marked for the final match of Koo/Tan. It didn’t matter that the new sensations were up against (and eventually came under the sword of) fellow Malaysians Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook who are a decade more mature than the prodigies.

With a mean age of only 21 between these two aesthetically pleasing young men - who are also capable of producing an equally aesthetically pleasing badminton game - and especially with their fine recent Super Series run, the crowd’s money was on the relatively novice Koo/Tan.

But still, veterans Lee/Choong are the defending champions in this event so it may or may not have come as a surprise that the world number 7 Lee/Choong held on to their title and had Koo/Tan (quite literally) floored.

The 32-year-old Lee said in a pre-match interview, “We are the defending champions and this will be the driving force for us in our bid to retain the title. There is nothing to lose.”

True to their word, right from the first set, the self-professed “old men” demonstrated to the crowd that they may be old, but that they are definitely not yet out of steam. Unleashing a superb offensive game, they smashed their way to take the set at 21-14.

Koo/Tan, however, quickly put on their creative caps and employed a new strategy in the 2nd set. Perhaps something primed Koo to remember that he is after all a wicked master at the net. For that matter, he is one of the best architects at the net in the men’s doubles pool of recent years.

Koo was fast and furious as he approached the net, forcing Lee/Choong to slide into a defensive mode that was simply not good enough for Tan’s razor-sharp smashes, which are absolutely lethal. In this fashion, Koo/Tan secured the second set at a remarkable 21-11 scoreline.

Such a complementary combination is why the Koo/Tan partnership is so deadly. For as long as they continue to bring out the best in each other, they will remain a vicious threat to many men’s doubles pairs. However, the glitch in this harmony was seen in the semi-finals the day before when Koo struggled to find his usual magic touch in his netplay and Tan’s play was affected.

In essence, Tan’s brilliance can only be unleashed if Koo’s extraordinary way with the net successfully sets his partner up for that superb smash. It becomes a chain reaction of some sort and was seen again in today’s tiebreaker.

Tan was reduced to a less than inspiring figure when Koo’s netplay was rendered ineffective by their opponents. Lee/Choong came into the tiebreaker responding to Koo/Tan’s new game plan with an identical game plan by playing at the pace of Koo/Tan and they made a wise decision to take on Koo at the net.

Lee/Choong was greatly assisted by Koo’s less than sophisticated netplay this afternoon. As a result, Koo was caught feeding into the net or was forced to lift the shuttle to Lee/Choong. The veterans were hence invited to a smashing good time that had Koo/Tan going down at an empathetic 21-12 in the final set and missing out on their first Asian Championship crown.

With that, Koo might yet again come under media and public scrutiny for his performance (or the lack thereof). He was reprimanded by his displeased coach, Rexy Mainaky, for “playing to the gallery” in the semi-finals, which would have cost them their finals spot had their opponents not been so overwhelmed by intimidation that they bequeathed many points from unforced errors and misjudgments.

“This should not happen in a game, [Kien Keat] should stay focused”, said Rexy, a former men’s doubles Olympic champion. Today, Koo paid the price and lost the title.

[wl2172]

Wow, very well written by J Lin.

[s1nn3r]

Is never hurt to bring them back from dreamland... This is the most curcial stage of their career. Either they become de next Rexy&ricky or end up like HH! Only they themself can decide.

[Darien]

Is never hurt to bring them back from dreamland... This is the most curcial stage of their career. Either they become de next Rexy&ricky or end up like HH! Only they themself can decide.

what is HH by the way...but i guess it 's not a good thing. so, i assume they will be ending up like HH.....

[Dreamzz]

what is HH by the way...but i guess it 's not a good thing. so, i assume they will be ending up like HH.....

HH = Hafiz Hashim.

[vivian kon]

lww ctf reli rockz.

[pjswift]

I think you misinterpret my statement. I wasn't serious about the Jaguh Kampung thing. I'm not upset over KKK's lost. In fact he has gone thru alot before being a Champ. Jaguh Kampung means that you can only win homeground and they are not. And i'm not labelling them as one. If i do... they will chop my head off.

I do agree with Dreamzz.. they know me well enough.

But if i do offended anyone in anyway i'm terribly sorry.

that was nasty of me. My apologies to you and Darien. Guess i forgot to defuse before posting so got short fused.
bahasa is my second language so I can understand and speak it.
I first heard about jaguh kampong label from a KL taxi driver and I was stunned with his reference to LCW. But I guess MAS fans got really frustrated and taxi drivers and reporters need to sound clever to cover up their inadequacies.I just don't expect BCF members to feel a similar need. Guess i think too highly of BCF members but I'll lower my expectations so i don't get short fused again.
Maybe i lack a sense of humour but I believe jaguh kampong is a demeaning term, nothing humorous there. I hope LCW continues to exit early so he can take more unscheduled rest and MAS will come to expect nothing from him.Perhaps this is the price to pay for working him non-stop last year.

[Darien]

that was nasty of me. My apologies to you and Darien. Guess i forgot to defuse before posting so got short fused.
bahasa is my second language so I can understand and speak it.
I first heard about jaguh kampong label from a KL taxi driver and I was stunned with his reference to LCW. But I guess MAS fans got really frustrated and taxi drivers and reporters need to sound clever to cover up their inadequacies.I just don't expect BCF members to feel a similar need. Guess i think too highly of BCF members but I'll lower my expectations so i don't get short fused again.
Maybe i lack a sense of humour but I believe jaguh kampong is a demeaning term, nothing humorous there. I hope LCW continues to exit early so he can take more unscheduled rest and MAS will come to expect nothing from him.Perhaps this is the price to pay for working him non-stop last year.

first of all, i do not know why you are asking for apology from me.
but i do forgive u anyway...hahaha

[joefoo]

Hi, looking very hard for the above match. Can anyone who has the video upload & share?

Thanks a million!

[robin7]

Hi, looking very hard for the above match. Can anyone who has the video upload & share?

Thanks a million!

I saw it in the youtube a few days ago.