>All subsequent world championship he did poorly and never failed to disappoint me. I think he didn't play in 1985 world championship but he did in 1987 and lost in second round.
Eugene Boy, welcome to this forum...you la 41, I am much older:crying: I too followed MAS badminton, riding my bike (paddle by muscle power type, not petroleum powered type lah) to see in SBA and Stadium Negara in the good old days, I watch at court level in SBA halls seeing the players play that I can smell the sweat from their armpits until 1978 when I went overseas and quit playing and quit watching baddy, so I miss MS career...as for MS facts being distorted, twisted and untrue, take it easy lah, we malaysians and ex-malaysians are desperately looking for heroes, after seeing these CHN chaps spank the heck out of us, so a few exaggerations here and there no big deal, must feel good lah....malaysia boleh
Fact is he is a ******** player who invented a lot of creative strokes, those however didnt really help him establish a solid position in the world stage.
"Great" could mean "respectful" as well, not always referring to the best. In that respect, I think Misbun Sidek was a great player himself back in the 80s. If I were the commentator I would called out others like Zhao Jian Hua, Han Jian, Morten Frost as great players as well.
I do admit Misbun was talented. However, I read lots of stories about people in sports even outside badminton. You can become good merely on talent with little work but you will never achieve greatness! I have to conclude that talent have to go hand in hand with hard work to produce greatness - no exception. I read about Misbun relying on his talent without wanting to constantly work hard. I think that was his mistake. Besides, I believe he wasn't mentally strong, a hallmark necessary for a great player.
Zhao, Han Jian and Frost was a class on their own and I don't recall Misbun beat any of them in their prime. The last time Misbun beat any of them was the match with Han Jian in Thomas cup 86 but he wasn't in his prime already and retired after that.
Misbun beat Frost in straight sets in 1982 when the latter was the All England Champ and came close again in the GP semi finals 1983. Beat Han Jian in 1985 semi-finals Malaysian Masters, han Jian went on to win the WC that year. Beat Liem Swee King in 1979 Sea Games that caused a shock as no Malaysian single player has beaten a top Indonesian single (All England Champion) for almost a decade. Beat Icuk the world Champ in 1983 GP finals. He has also beaten Luan Jin before.
The sidek brothers invented the deadly "s" serve that was very difficult to reply that lead IBF to ban it at those time. However, Datuk Misbun has another deadly weapon that was feared most and become one of his talk about trademark shot which is his ATH cross court drop shot
Shooting Stroke he also had a very good backhand baseline to baseline, diagonal backhand to diagonal backhand and a backhand smash fore court and cross court. His problem is stamina. let watch this video btw Misbun and Morten in an energy sapping 3 setter. The best set is the 3rd set where Misbun chased from 13 -9 down. Ehhhhhh the S service was not invented by Misbun. The 1st time it was seen was by Thing Hien Hiouw aka the Thing but the Sidek brothers perfected the technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A19XSFG4oh8
He also beat Icuk the World Champion in QF of the same tournament. We still marvelled at the way these two play, both players attack, defend , diagonal backhand clears, chops , counter attack. But no Jump Smash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsZGpnXzy5c
