He played a lacklustre first game against Tommy Sugiarto last night at the Sea Games men's final, but fought bitterly in the second game before succumbing 13-21, 17-21 to the Taiwan Open champion. I saw some flashes of brilliance in his defence and cross court smashes and drops, and dare I say it, some LCW-inspired shots such as his super quick smash returns and net play. Only 169 cm in height, and his best results was quarter finals in the WJC in 2007. Also runner up in the 2010 Malaysia International Challenge. Is he another diamond in the rough, or will he forever be lost in the crowd of young players the BAM is "grooming" for possible future success?
I think its the result of just being treated as a sparring partner for LCW all the time, the backup players normally either pick up some of LCW's tricks (you can see this in Liew Daren too) or just have a one-dimensional style of play. They need more initiative to go further. He IS talented. He beat Chen Long when he was still a junior. But he often skips training and is lazy... which is why he can't seem to go further.
he is 169, i thought he was much shorter... if he is 169, lcw is 172... 3cm dont make much different its the size of THE WILL that matters....
He needs to lose just a little bit of weight and beef up where it matters. He's got the speed, but somewhat lacking in strength, especially in his smashes. His shot placement is very, very good, though. Ditto his footwork.
me also just seen arif played 2 days ago.. and i think he's a really good trick player... more less like young lcw... really neat on net play and lot of deceiving trick shoot... and also really passionate when chasing the birdie.. but theres still a lot of unnecessary mistakes that he did... i think he will be a great player!! just like the way he played! tricky and passionate!! nice new diamond from malaysia...
Arif just made the last four of the Korean GP after defeating Liew Daren in straight sets. Congratulations!
Yup, congratulations to Arif. Too bad so far only Liew Daren and Arif have reached GPG SF over the last 2 years.. Hope he can beat Shon Wan Ho but that might be asking too much for him to beat a top 15 player
Well, not sure of the praises here but he didn't display his skills at all in today's semi-final. His smash is too weak, and he is abit slow...
i totally agree with u... i watched the game on tv and i found out he's too slow and always putting himself under pressure by SWH... his smashes is too weak, he prefer to use backhand almost 60% of the game (while SWH prefer to use overhead smash/ stroke), his netting was poor and always playing risky shots (giving SWH chnces to kill it easily)... and with that kind of game, i think he will even struggle to beat WCH orh hafiz for thomas cup slot... too many things need to be done to improve if he's going to challenge the top players... but i think there are some positive things in his game... i guess he's started to be able to change his game in the mid of the game, started to be aggressive (but still need to be polish) with attacking drives... and the main thing is he's reaching his 1st GP gold semi final... that's a good sign... overall: he still have long way to go... especially fitness and his strokes... but he's only 22, he's still have the chance to improve...
Agreed with this one. I'm actually quite surprise that he beaten Daren Liew, considering Daren has more power in his game. I watched his match against Wan Ho Shon, there was seriously lack of power and speed, albeit his brief accuracy and aggrassiveness in the mid game. Maybe it's just me, but Rashid Sidek looked a bit annoyed/frustrated with Arif when he talked to him during break time.
I am not suprise with that......as we all know LDR is one with low stamina....who can only plays well in early rounds, not in Q, SF or Final ...........!!
Well, to be fair to Arif he might have just been very nervous playing in his first ever semi-final of a Grand Prix Gold tournament, and was unable to utilize his weapons...
More like I didn't get a chance to see any weapons from that game. I just made that statement to be fair to Arif since he didn't seem to take much initiative in that game.
Ariff Latif is good with his placement of shot.He manage to force enemy to give the chance to make the kill.Based on my observation during last SEA games between he and Tomy Sugiarto,he maybe have the chance to drag on the game to the decider but lack of confidence in his shot make him lose.So the point is,he need more confident when execute any shot that he choose to execute and improove his speed and stamina to bring his game to the next level.He has the talent to be a great star.
in some point, i do agree with u (esp.regarding his placement and about lack of confidence)... but in my opinion, in modern games, he needs to be more aggressive to kill the shuttle... i think the way he plays is more like 15 points game which prefer to do rally... thus, he needs to add more speed and power into his game...
I thinks he needs to tone up too. Physically he looks a little slow on the court with those excess pounds.