Congratulations to Zul for being the gold medallist of the badminton individual event of SUKMA, in a field that has Misbun Ramdan Misbun and Iskandar Zulkarnain (he beat Iskandar in 2 straight games en route to the title) Hopefully he can bring his performance forward to the international stage... as of this tournament, KLRC has beaten BAM
I have seen ZZ playing in the recent SUKMA or Malaysian Games and even thought he won the gold medal beating a BAM player Tan Kian Meng in 3 sets, I am not impressed by his performance. He's a talented player but if he continues with his current physical state it will get him nowhere. He would either becomes an injury prone player or the next yoyo. This is the sad thing when a decision is wrongly made. Poor ZZ!
Congratulations to Zul for winning the SUKMA MS title . There is still a long, long way to go for Zul. .
ZZ should join BAM before it is too late. LCW may not remain there for long to spar with him. Good that Darien Liew and Chong Wei Feng are improving with the Dato as teamate. Keep it up DL and CWF.
Good to see him beat players more senior than him. Good start. He can seek assistance from people outside BAM. For example, Han Jian (if he's still in malaysia) or Misbun... and gain more international exposure in competitions. BAM is not the only solution. Many ways to skin a cat.
But BAM is the most practical and as he is in a special position, he will have lots of opportunities than others for international competitions. Lip service by former greats can help but little. It is the practical aspects of regular training in a proper setup like BAM that can help him to advance faster and realise his ambition.
I think BAM did not think he was ready then, not even now. BAM quite understandably preferred the backup players like Darien and CWF, whose performances were being monitored closely as they were and are BAM's trainees. By saying ZZ is in a special position refers to his opportunities after he has joined BAM and showed that he had good potential to be a champion like LCW. Still he has to prove himself.
I am not sure if BAM has the right/proper setup nor does it have the appropriate regular training methods. Just look at their younger singles players. none of them are making any real breakthroughs. It hurts to say this but i dont even consider DL making any major breakthroughs (having malaysian blood in me, i do wish they will in time to come). I believe many of us understood why Han Jian, misbun, li mao and others quit..... And mind you, good coaches are not just lip service. alot more is involved in coaching than just opening their mouths.
I quite understand the disappointments many ardent MAS fans have on BAM's administration in the past and the lack of star quality trainees coming through the BAM system thus far. But producing a star player takes a long time, LCW being a good example. He did not inspire during his early days as a pro. I have seen him being knocked out in the early rounds of the S'pore Open. He made good later, I believe, by changing his attitude as a serous professional and worked very hard to achieving his goals. Therefore even the BAM system, no matter how negative outsiders may perceive it to be, has helped LCW make good. It could therefore be said that even with the best facilities a professional cannot be guaranteed success if he is not prepared physically and mentally to face tough challenges in training and in competitions. Without proper facilities and resources it will even be tougher. For whatever it's worth, BAM has produced champions before. There is no reason why it cannot continue to do so, given the right material.
For what it's worth, Zul beat Iskandar en route to Sukma finals. Ramdan also lost in the other half of the draw. Iskandar is 2 years Zul's senior, I rated him as better potential than Zul in terms of skills. While Ramdan, being born into badminton playing family, is better in his mental strength. Zul in BAM, nope, if Zul went thru BJSS, he will not be the WJC. If he is in BAM now, he'll only be sparring partner. If Iskandar who is better is not making a breakthru yet, in BAM Zul will get less chances and end up in the backburner, along the lines of Lim Fang Yang. Just observe and see what will happen to Syawal, Goh Soon Huat, Loh Wei Sheng. Loh WS has better chance cos he was AJC runner up but will not be champion anywhere close to even WCH's level. We dont have Yang Yang, Misbun, Li Mao as coaches. With Rashid as chief, everyone knows very well what happens.
I quite understand the disappointments many ardent MAS fans have on BAM's administration in the past and the lack of star quality trainees coming through the BAM system thus far. But producing a star player takes a long time, LCW being a good example. He did not inspire during his early days as a pro. I have seen him being knocked out in the early rounds of the S'pore Open. He made good later, I believe, by changing his attitude as a serous professional and worked very hard to achieving his goals. Therefore even the BAM system, no matter how negative outsiders may perceive it to be, has helped LCW make good. It could therefore be said that even with the best facilities a professional cannot be guaranteed success if he is not prepared physically and mentally to face tough challenges in training and in competitions. Without proper facilities and resources it will even be tougher. For whatever it's worth, BAM has produced champions before. There is no reason why it cannot continue to do so, given the right material.
Sorry for the double posting again. I'm no good on the iPhone. Junior players are just what they are expected to be. We have been reminded that in these columns that even world junior champions have dropped out of circulation and some of those still hanging around continue to find the going tough and have yet to produce the desired results. So too with ZZ. He may have performed well just a while ago but he did not win the Russian Open? nor did he do well in the Axiata Challenge. It is consistency that is more important just as LCW has proven as WR1 for so long. Of course some will argue that he will make good at his present club but I disagree and consider it a pity that he is not advancing as fast as Viktor Axelsen DEN who was defeated by ZZ at the last world junior championships. I think his chances with BAM are much better.
it takes a lot of failures before success... some champions fail more than others, some champions seems to have enchanted lives.... but you do need failures (somebody google how many failures NASA have had before putting a man on the moon). Coming from a culture that fears failure.. its hard for an 18/19 year old kid to come to terms. But I hope it does not come to a point where he fear failures himself.. despite this cultural handicap how many failures does ZZ need? who knows... but in his short interview yesterday after his sukma triumph.. he understands that this is just a local tourney... he acknowledges his failures in the international arena.. he says he is going to continue trying.. who are we to say that he should stop just because he kept failing in all his international events so far?
. For Zul having defeated Iskandar, I am sure that he (Zul) would be encouraged to continue to work harder to raise his ranking within Malaysia. IMHO, players should perform well against players in his/her country first; before tackling the world. .
. Zul doesn't need to check on the many failures of NASA; Zul only needs to know LCW's records. BTW, Zul's idol is Taufik Hidayat. .
