2007/06/23 Badminton / World Championships: Misbun: Chong Wei can win it! By : K.M. Boopathy NST Online Misbun (left) said Chong Wei’s change in attitude and extra effort in training have been the keys that revived his career. NATIONAL singles coach Misbun Sidek, impressed with the rapid progress of Lee Chong Wei, believes the shuttler is a strong contender for the men’s singles title in the World Championships. Misbun, who rarely makes bold predictions, even narrowed down Chong Wei’s threats to only three players — World No 1 and defending champion Lin Dan, his compatriot Chen Jin and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia — in the Aug 13-19 championships in Kuala Lumpur. Chong Wei, who has been training under Misbun since April, has shown marked improvement as he won the Indonesia Open title last month and secured a rare win over Lin Dan in the Sudirman Cup in Glasgow last week. Misbun said Chong Wei’s change in attitude and extra effort in training have been the keys that revived the player’s career. "Chong Wei is a strong candidate for the World Championships title. All he needs to do is maintain his current performance and he has the chance to win," said Misbun at the Juara Stadium yesterday. "Taufik and the two players from China (Lin Dan and Chen Jin) are going to be his main threats but Chong Wei has the right attitude to go all the way. "Before, Chong Wei had been very tense during tournaments and sometimes, he was even said to be arrogant. However, this is not the same player you will see in tournaments these days as he is very humble off the court and very confident on court. "Chong Wei has learnt to keep his emotions in check, the hunger for success is back and he has the strength to challenge his toughest opponents. All these qualities were clearly evident in Glasgow and I expect his form to continue right through the World Championships." Wong Choong Hann is the only Malaysian singles player to reach the final of the World Championships and co-incidentally, it was Misbun who guided the player to achieve the result in Birmingham in 2003. However, Choong Hann found his bogeyman Xia Xuanze of China waiting and suffered a heartbreaking three-game defeat. Having already secured a psychological advantage over Lin Dan after his victory in the Sudirman Cup, Chong Wei will be more concerned about Taufik whom the Malaysian has lost to seven times in nine meetings. Taufik is still undecided about competing in the World Championships as his wife is due to give birth to their first child a few days before the event and the Indonesian’s absence would be a great relief for Chong Wei. Chong Wei has better track record against Chen Jin while another player from China, Bao Chunlai shouldn’t pose the Malaysian a problem despite beating him in last year’s World Championships in Madrid, Spain. Misbun is wary of the challenge of World No 5 Chen Yu though as the shuttler has beaten Chong Wei in their last three meetings but still expects the latter to pull through should they meet in the World Championships. The fact that Chong Wei is a solid performer at home could also work in his favour and if he strikes form, there is an outside chance of seeing a Malaysian crowned as the world champion for the first time.
i also believe he could do it. based on his latest feats, he showed a lot of fighting spirit and i have always respected sportsmen/women who came back from a slump or injury all the more determined to be better and show their inner strength. I wish for victory for LCW.
THIS IS EXACTLY WAD I MEANT EARLIER ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all athletes will definitely have their ups and their downs.... so, this indicates that LCW's down is over and its time for him go even further....!!!
off topic what language does misbun use to coach lcw ? language is the important key, the players can understand fully what his/her coaches tell or want to do
really? language is that important. how come international football players can understand their teammates and their coaches coz i know they only know a smattering of whatever language it is their using in the country they are playing. i think sports is a universal language too. like music. you can still send the information across via hand gestures and drawings, and plain demonstration if need be. but a language shared would be all the more efficient i think.
i wanted to edit the above post but there was some problem either with the server or my computer but for a while it hanged. so the part i want to edit is the "language is that important ? " there should be a question mark there.
football is team sport and more tactical, and badminton is more individual... in football coach can only draw the tactic and strategy in a whiteboard and the player will understand what to do, and in badminton, what will be drawn ?...
Mr.Misbun,It's time for u to shine again!!So,put all ur effort on Chong Wei!! Chong Wei,prove to all Malaysian tat u can win consistantly n become world no.1 again!!Don let ur fans dissapointed again!!
i believe that badminton is also a tactical sport. i think all sports need tactics. and maybe in football they can draw positions and game plan and such, and maybe badminton is harder to draw. but the court is small, the the coach can always show a demonstration of what he wants the player to do. if it is drills, he can gesture for them to feed the bird and show what drill to do. and how many times, well, he can use his fingers. but i think numbers are easy to remember and easy to learn in english. in terms of tactic, really, all he needs to do is show what he wants the player to do via demonstration too. but yeah, i concur that without a common language, it will be harder to impart knowledge. however, i believe it could be done.
Needless to say LCW represents the greatest chance for Malaysia to win the WC. If Misbun cannot steer him to winning this WC, nobody can and I say this without malice to other coaches. The preparation is perfect -- I kinda think Misbun has timed it so well. Two hard tournaments (China Masters, where LCW is still getting into fitness and then the Philippines Open where I suspect he would hit peak by winning it) is what the doctor ordered before the WC. The Chinese a fearsome team to most will not be getting their own way this time. First, they will be playing in a hostile place, where Malaysian fans like me are just irksome and unrepentantly one-eyed. Secondly, all the other Malaysian players will produce their best to tire LD/BAO/CHENs. Last but not least, Malaysian players know the stadium well and have got used to it (there is some quirkiness which I think LD is never comfortable when he was playing here). All said and done, we will drive the fear into the Chinese players when they get into the stadium. There will be no place to hide, all the elements will be against them.
Taufik can stop LCW... but TH has to give up hard-liquor for a month before the World Championship... er... that would be almost impossible for Taufik. Ha ha ha...
XBall, you should yell or get someone to yell "break LD legs" and get someone to flash as Romeo said in another thread with you and me "flash at FU/Cai" and MAs get the advantage...hahaha!!! LOL!!
Hope you are only going to be flashing with a camera, and not flashing by lifting your shirt up or pulling your pants down We will have a class-action lawsuit ready for you if you dare do the latter!!!
I thought LCW is so good that he doesn't require any outside "assistance" to defeat any Chinese players... but even his most supportive fan X Ball knows the truth is that without home ground advantage + crazy fans creating a hostile environment, and team work against the Chinese, LCW will have no chance of winning the title. However, I wouldn't mind you guys doing all that, as after all is set and done, we won't see LCW or any Malaysian winning MS, nor will we see any China player winning either... but we definitely will see Peter Gade be the man staning in the podium with the MS world champion title. + Wacha as the runner-up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Taufik and the two players from China (Lin Dan and Chen Jin) are going to be his main threats but Chong Wei has the right attitude to go all the way. " I am suprised that one of my fav players (Gade) was discarded from the LCW-stopper list. Why why why? :crying: Does it mean WACHA has overtaken Gade? Watcha watcha... to win WC07...!!!
Yeah rite.....but I think Chong Wei has a big chance to make it to semi-finals. You can imagine LYB telling LD "you have no other options but to win this title" and now think who has a bigger chance ?