Indiainfo.com Sep 1, 2009 Source: Reuters SINGAPORE: Malaysian badminton's bright young things are proving to be something of a flop and the country may need to fall back on some old faces if they are to challenge for the world men's team championships. Malaysia stages the Thomas Cup next May and had hoped that a quintet of up-and-coming players would spearhead the hosts challenge, but chief coach Rashid Sidek says he is now resigned to the fact that seasoned battlers will feature once again. None of the five hopefuls - Tan Chun Seang, Chong Wei Feng, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Liew Daren and Chan Kwong Beng - were showing maturity in their game and were eliminated early at recent tournaments in Macau and Taiwan. Based on this form, Rashid said none would provide a strong challenge for five-times champion Malaysia in the Thomas Cup Finals. "This continues to be a big concern for us. These players may have a new coach but they still have their old thinking." "I did not see anything extra from them," he told Malaysia's Star newspaper. Unless there is a rapid turnaround, Malaysia will have no choice but to bring back 32-year-old Wong Choong Hann and Mohd Hafiz Hashim to support world number one Lee Chong Wei. World number 12 Wong defeated China's Chen Jin and Indonesian Taufik Hidayat en route to runner-up finishes in Macau and Taiwan The mercurial Hashim, who has suffered patchy form since last winning a tournament in 2006, also beat several higher ranked opponents including South Korean number one Park Sung-hwan. "Choong Hann is an independent player without a coach but he played well while Hafiz showed his hunger to play good badminton again. Hopefully this time, Hafiz's enthusiasm is for real," said Rashid. "If Choong Hann and Hafiz continue to produce good results, we have to give them another shot at the Thomas Cup Finals." "Otherwise, we will have little chance to fight for points in the singles matches."
To be strong in badminton consistently a country needs to have depth. One or two brilliant players without depth will only mean the harder they fall when those brilliant stars start to fade from the scene. The same with any sport. Just look at professional soccer.
Agreed. It seems like those countries only focus on the talent that they currently have and forge to develop the youngster.
To say that Malaysia doesn't have the young base to develop badminton talents may be too simplistic, unlike Singapore, where the numbers are small and priorities are different. Although things have improved for Singapore badminton over the years, but still the badminton pull is not strong enough. The young talents must be there in Malaysia, it is up to those responsible to tap them in greater numbers. Remember badminton is always high up there in the minds of most youngsters in terms of popularity and preference as a sport. In part this is attributed to badminton having done Malaysia proud in the past compared to other sports and games. LCW getting a silver from the last Beijing Olympics is a case in point and so did many other national shuttlers who won medals in previous Olympics. Although squash queen Nicol David might have given Malaysia its first Olympic gold had it been included in last year's Olympics. Perhaps the authorities need to take a good look at their current system of talent-scouting and talent development and improve their resources in terms of training venues, better facilities, training methods, competitions, coaching and incentives, etc, and how this can be effectively funded over a period of time. (BTW for inspiration, one should read Nicol David's biography which concluded with "Her desire to succeed has taken her to a territory where other Malaysians consider impossibility. She is also a living legend who proves that you can be exceptional in both sports and education fields. Malaysia Boleh!) http://skorcareer.com.my/blog/from-a-nicol-david-to-a-world-champion/2007/12/19/
Not surprise at all. But I think that other countries face the same problem, isn't it? Escpecially with men singles (except China of course). No good back-up players...
Maybe CTF/LWW will be consider to play again in TC event if they continuing producing good results.......
i think BAM should learn from MTBC( bowling). More youngsters are coming up and producing results. Guess the coach Holloway Cheah knows how to motivate his charges instead of scolding and chasing them out of the training centre(see The Star, saturday, "Raging Misbun").
Coach sacks sloppy shuttlers The Straits Times Sep 8, 2009 http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Sport/Story/STIStory_426930.html KUALA LUMPUR - RUTHLESS Malaysian badminton coach Hendrawan has warned his players they will be axed from the national squad if they lacked commitment in training, driving home his threat by sacking two members ahead of the Vietnam Open. Leading Malaysians Kuan Beng Hong and Tan Chung Seang were dropped for not showing intensity in training, after a string of below par efforts by players from the Asian badminton powerhouse. 'If one cannot handle the pressure in training, how are they to handle themselves during competition?' Hendrawan told local media. 'Secondly, our players are only thinking of competing in tournaments without having to put much effort into the preparation.' 'And if they lose, the defeat does not affect them greatly,' he said. 'This mindset has to change.' Hendrawan has picked lower-ranked players for next month's Vietnam tournament. -- REUTERS
Better still, let's bring back MAS all time best pair and world beater, err....Punch and Boon Bee show
Hiyaa, this shows again of some press who simply conclude something else & mislead readers. KBH & TCS not sacked lah, but grounded from VIetnam . And it's not "lower ranked players" per se, but the other elit back-up. The Star Online > Sports Tuesday September 8, 2009 Hendrawan drops Chun Seang, Beng Hong from Vietnam Open By RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: Shuttler Tan Chun Seang may be one the most skilful players among the national men’s singles back-up squad but he will not get to compete in the Vietnam Open for lack of quality during training sessions. Coach Hendrawan said yesterday that he had chosen Liew Daren, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Chong Wei Feng for the Grand Prix Gold championships, which will be held at Ho Chi Minh City from Oct 6-11. The Indonesian has also decided to keep senior Kuan Beng Hong at home but he has lined up a few Super Series events for Mohd Hafiz Hashim. Hendrawan said that his selection of players for international tournaments was based on their commitment in training. After assessing the players’ performances in training and competitions over the last two months, Hendrawan said that his focus was to change their attitude in two areas. Except for Hafiz, none of the players under Hendrawan’s charge did well in the Open tournaments in Macau and Taiwan last month. “Firstly, the players need to work on giving quality in training. I can only push them to a certain level and they have to also show that they have the will to improve,” he said. “There will always be pressure in training. One can get tired and bored. There could be other problems too but players have to learn to overcome all these. If one cannot handle the pressure in training, how are they to handle themselves during competition? “Secondly, our players are only thinking of competing in tournaments without having to put much effort into the preparation. “And if they lose, the defeat does not affect them greatly. This mind-set has to change. I am now sending players to international tournaments based on how much effort they put into the training. For now, Chun Seang and Beng Hong have to stay at home.” Hendrawan added that everyone under his charge was important. “I was a player before and I know the feeling when one is overlooked. I have felt unwanted in the team when the attention of the coach did not reach me,” he said. “I promised myself that I would not do the same when I become a coach. Everyone is important to me but I cannot a help a player if he does not want to help himself.” At the moment, the Vietnam Open is the only remaining international event planned for the back-up shuttlers this year. Besides the seniors and back-up, Hendrawan is also in charge of three juniors – Kuan Kam Chung, Goh Soon Huat and Lim Fang Yang. http://thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2009/9/8/sports/4668557.asp&sec=sports LOL, LOL. Mr Ng BB should be 60 by now.
y0... this is famous la... but now BAM try to shift those blame to players like showing their "indiscipline" in the newspaper & etc. In actual, some of this players might reach the peak and yet not good enough!
