New Straits Times » Sport Badminton: Misbun wants 3 in Athens K.M. Boopathy Dec 5: THE BA of Malaysia’s (BAM) primary target is to win gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics and for starters, national singles coach Misbun Sidek wants Malaysia to have the maximum representation of three players in Athens. According to International Badminton Federation (IBF) Olympic qualifying rules, a country with three or more players in the top 15 of the world ranking at the end of the qualifying period in 2004 is allowed to field three players. Qualifying for the Olympics begins on May 1, 2003 and ends on April 30, 2004. Misbun said he will use the first six months of next year to get the senior players to be on par with the world's top players in order to fight for berths in the Olympics. "Having three players increases our opportunities. I am not saying quantity is important but countries with more players have always benefitted from that and have won more than a medal," said Misbun yesterday. "At the moment, Wong Choon Hann is the only senior player justified to be in the top-five but in the next six months, I will make sure that there at least six like him," said Misbun. "It will be even better if the six players can make it to the top 15 by the end of the qualifying period where we can choose our best three players. "So far, only China and Indonesia have the luxury of having this advantage and they have clinched more medals than any other nation in the men's singles." Indonesia benefitted from having three players in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in which they won a gold, a silver and a bronze through Alan Budi Kusuma, Ardy Wiranata and Hermawan Susanto respectively. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, China won the gold through Ji Xinpeng and the bronze through Xia Xuanze. Sun Jun was stopped in the quarter-finals by Indonesia's Hen-drawan. Misbun also said that having an extra player eases the pressure as Malaysia always had only two players in the Olympics. "For instance, Wong was under tremendous pressure to deliver a medal in Sydney but he faltered in the last eight. "It will not be the same when we have three players of equal standards, as we can be look forward to anyone of them winning the medals." Besides Wong, Misbun's prodigy Hafiz Hashim is the only other potential medallist in Athens but that will depend on how the coach develops the latter's fitness and endurance. Misbun feels players like Roslin Hashim, Lee Tsuen Seng, James Chua and Sairul Amar Ayub can close the gap on the others as long as they have the commitment and desire. Misbun has also pledged equal attention to back-up players like Lee Chong Wei, Kuan Beng Hong, Yeoh Kay Bin and other potential juniors as they will be part of BAM's long-term plans — the 2008 Beijing Olympics being the next major target. "I will not be unduly worried with the results until June but the players should be ready after that," he said. "If they are not ready by then, it is not going to be easy for them." Misbun will probably have a meeting with BAM to decide on the size of the national squad next year before making his recommen-dations.
Assuming Misbun achieve his wish of having 6 players in the top 15, who will be his choice if let's say the following players qualified: 1. Wong Choon Hann 2. Ong Ewe Hock 3. Hafiz Hashim 4. Lee Tsuen Seng 5. Roslin Hashim 6. Mohammad Hashim In my opinion, his choice will be player no. 3, 5 and 6. How about the rest?
Mebbe better to give the fella a chance. if he 's biased and doesn't deliver he'll get the chop himself. Quite a few people have said that he's a dedicated pro, not as if he's some al Qaeda member.
I personally think 1, 3 and 4. Misbun is a fair person....he should be able to make the right decision.
In fact I think 6 will never make it at all. James chua is the other potential rather than Mohd Hashim & he is likely to be in the 4th or 5th placing.
I agree that James Chua, who is the National Champion(?), having beaten Ewe Hock in the process, should not be left out. Perhaps the fairest arrangement is to get these selected players to play a round robin, assuming they have qualified under IBF rules by then.
Agree. Not tt I am a fan of Misbun Sidek or any of the Sidek bros for that matter but why jump to conclusions even before he's started?
Looks like Misbun has proven us wrong, at least for the time being, when he said that "he would treat every player equally and only those willing to work hard under his guidance would receive the necessary attention" (The Star, 6 Dec). This was said with direct reference to his Nusa Mahsuri Club players, Mohd Roslin Hashim and his younger brother Hafiz Hashim. Then on 12 Dec, Hafiz was withdrawn from the China Open from Dec 17 - 22 by his Club, because his current coach and sparring partner, Misbun's younger brother, Rashid, said that Hashim, the Manchester Commonwealth Games gold medalist, was unfit and off-form. He preferred to prepare Hafiz for qualification to the Olympic Games 2004 in Athens. Misbun (Star, 16 Nov) wants Hafiz to win the Olympic gold. Seems some way off and whether this has to do with the obvious attempt to juggle the players rankings by most countries to meet Olympic qualification, as shown in the case of Indonesia's young 18-year-old Sony Dwi Kuncoro's defeat of Taufik Hidayat (15-12, 15-5) at the recent Asian Badminton Championships
I say BAM shall hold trials and selection will be based on current form.To me it doesn't matter any of the six. So long they represent the country !
