THE All-England championships in Birmingham on March 9-14 will give a clear indication of whether Malaysian shuttlers’ aspirations of winning the nation’s first-ever Olympic gold in Athens will be fulfilled. Due to the Olympic qualifying period, top nations China, Indonesia, Denmark and South Korea have entered all their top players and the quality in the All-England is expected to be higher than the World Championships in August last year. Which means the All-England will not be just another tournament for the national shuttlers, but a great chance for them to test their abilities against the mighty Chinese, who are favourites for the singles gold in Athens. National singles coach Misbun Sidek said the performance of his charges in the next six events, beginning with the Thomas Cup qualifying round in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 16-22, will give a clear picture of how well the Malaysians can fare in the Olympics. Hafiz Hashim won the All-England title for Malaysia after a 26-year-lapse and it will be entirely a different ball game this time as the Chinese shuttlers have dominated almost every event after failing in Birmingham. The BA of Malaysia (BAM) will send Wong Choong Hann, Roslin Hashim, Lee Chong Wei, Hafiz, Lee Tsuen Seng and Kuan Beng Hong for the Swiss Open and the All-England. The biggest threat will come from China as their five players — Chen Hong (World No 1), Lin Dan (World No 2), Xia Xuanze (World No 4), Bao Chunlai (World No 6) and Chen Yu (World No 9) — have dominated the grand prix circuit last year by winning seven out of the 15 titles. Choong Hann and his compatriots must focus on overcoming the monopoly of the Chinese players to gain a psychological boost ahead of the Olympics. Misbun said the All-England and the rest of the tournaments during the Olympic qualifying period will be very tough but will give an opportunity for his charges to gauge the level of their performance. "I have never seen all the top players in one tournament. This makes the All-England a difficult tournament to win for Hafiz or any other Malaysian players," said Misbun. "The scenario will remain the same for throughout the Olympic qualifying period as every player is desperate to gain world ranking points in order to earn his or her ticket to Athens. "We should know after the Thomas Cup qualifying round where our players stand and what needs to be done for them to peak in the Olympics. "Since all the players will be involved in tournaments until April, it will also give an indication of how well our players can fare in the Olympics." The fact that there are only six tournaments left before the Olympic qualifying period which ends on April 30, even the three-star Swiss Open, which serves as a warm-up event for the All-England on March 2-7, will see all the top 20 players competing to enhance their world ranking. Three more tournaments will be held in Asia after the All-England. They are Korea Open in March, followed by the Japan Open in April and the Asian championships. Misbun is looking forward to having the maximum three entries in the men's singles and this means all the senior players must do very well in the coming tournaments. Hafiz, often undone by complacency, should work harder and try to win at least a tournament to ensure that he qualifies. Choong Hann is assured of a place as he is the highest ranked Malaysian in fifth position while Hafiz needs to break into the top 16 and is likely to be involved in a tussle with Roslin and Chong Wei for the remaining two places. The challenge begins in the All-England when the results will be an early indication of how the Malaysians will fare in the Olympics.
Tough schedule again, as the players need to perform well (and stay HEALTHY) for a period of 2 months, which filled up with high lvl competitions. Big tasks for players having injury history. For might CHN, namely Chen and Xia. If they failed to maintain a certain lvl, that could be a good news for other nations, and make the MS selection for CHN a little bit more complicated.
I agree with you Buddy. Yeah its kinda risky to field all the good players at one time. there is a risk of injury in these high level of competition.
Depending on rankings and fitness will depend on tournament selection stratergy. I remmeber a while ago when China surprised everyone by Dutch Open or simmilar and sending players to French Open, where the hand no opposition. Also remmebr a time when China and Indonesia players seem to be avoiding each other at tournaments.
The Malaysian press is crazy... always exegerating their comments: How can the All England have a stronger field than the World Championships? The WC is second to none (except maybe the Olympics). Besides, with top players gearing up for the Olympics, they may not be in top form for the AE... peaking twice in such a short time is tough even for the worlds best Also why are players 'suddenly' in a rush to get qualification points. Everyone knows way in advance the qualification dates and the tournaments leading up to it. There seems little urgency to gain points when the qualification period starts (ie players not taking part in some tournaments) even though the competitions at the beginning of the period are just as important as those at the end. Oh and another thing... (though this may be the wrong thread)... prospect of a 'mouth watering final' between Malaysia and China in the TC qualification??? I think not. With the an untested 2nd doubles, the only 'good' player Malaysia has to bank on is Wong CH. Dont' get me wrong, the rest are decent players but I can't see Lee CW or Roslin matching it with other top players (not now at least).
The AE can have a stronger field than the worlds, for instance if the top 4 singles players are chinese at the worlds only three will play but at the AE 4 will play.
Yes, dlp is right there can be a higher global level of competition at the AE than in the WC because there is no limit to the number of entries per nation... But the WC is a higher objective for the players so the same players will probably be on better form at the WC or the olympics though!
And of course being able to field multiple entrants means some countries can make even greater use of team orders!
Actually, at the worlds, there were 4 chinese players - Chen H, Bao CL, Xia XZ and Lin D. (Only the Olympics limits the national perticipation to 3 entries)
libra, you're right there were 4 at WC, however with 5 chinese in the top ten alone clearly the AE can be a stronger field. Likewise Malayisa may have many quality singles players entered.
