Malaysia banking on women

Discussion in '2005 Tournaments' started by ants, Oct 13, 2005.

  1. ants

    ants Regular Member

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    MALAYSIA is banking on the women to bring home the badminton gold medals from the Manila Sea Games as the men will have the powerful Indonesians to contend with.
    Chief coach Yap Kim Hock said defending champion Wong Mew Choo and the doubles pair of Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui, who have been performing consistently for the last four months, have the form and credentials to strike gold in Manila.

    On the men’s side, Indonesia look a cut above with Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Simon Santoso and doubles pairs Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto and Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan entered for Manila.

    "This is the first time since the 70s that we have women players capable of winning the singles and doubles gold medals," said Kim Hock yesterday.

    "Mew Choo has shown marked improvement over the last four months, while Pei Tty-Eei Hui have been very consistent. They can win gold in Manila.

    "Indonesia look good in the men’s team and singles events but we have a fighting chance in the doubles," added Kim Hock.

    "But I believe our women can do better than the men this time and it is a positive development for women’s badminton in the country."

    Mew Choo and Pei Tty-Eei Hui are competing in the Dutch Open in Den Bosch, and doing well there will boost their confidence ahead of the Nov 27-Dec 4 Sea Games. Pei Tty-Eei Hui, the top seeds, look good for the Dutch title while Mew Choo has a tough encounter against Japan’s Kanako Yonekura in the second round today.

    Mew Choo, winner of the Sea Games singles gold medal in Vietnam two years ago, became the first Malaysian woman to manage the feat since Sylvia Ng in the 1977 Games in Kuala Lumpur. The odds will be stacked against the men and this is mainly due to their tendency of cracking under pressure when facing the Indonesians. Although the Indonesians have left out top pair Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto from their squad, they still have players good enough to beat the best Malaysia can offer, which was the case in 2003.

    In Vietnam, Indonesia were spearheaded by Sony, then only 18, but the young squad humiliated a full-strength Malaysian squad in the team event.

    Sony also tamed Wong Choong Hann to take the singles gold.

    Although Taufik will only compete in the team event, Sony or Simon are capable of walking away with the singles gold medal unless Lee Chong Wei plays above himself. Hafiz Hashim, who is tipped to win the Dutch Open title on Sunday, more often than not promises a lot only to disappoint, while Choong Hann is at the tail end of his career.

    The doubles could be the saving grace for the men’s squad as defending champions Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat have a fighting chance.
     

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