I just read a report in BBC and this is indeed very shocking. Wong Miew Choo had beaten Julia Mann to hand Malaysia a good chance to upset England, but no, someone had to split the World no. 2 pair up to play against England's top pair. COME ON, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!!!!!!!!! The signs were already there that Choong Tan Fook is not really in top form, he makes too many mistakes. Why did they not use the C&C combo???!!! Unless Choon Eng is injured, which I doubt it. Malaysia is not in the same league as Indo and South Korea where they can do plug and play for doubles. This is so damn sickening. Try to be too smart and your own plan backfires.
My thoughts exactly when I read it. I really wouldn't expect them to send a scratch pair in such a crucial match. Malaysia was banking on their men to deliver the 2 points weren't they? Argh.... I believe the coaches would have a hard time with the media. Poor Chan Chong Ming...
Their coaches and officials really suck! Well, it appear to me that Park Joo-bong no longer interested in coaching Malaysian team. Otherwise, he would not turn himself into laughing stock in such highly charged encounter!!!
Someone had better answer to this, I wonder if it is Park Joo Bong that made this blunder. The excuse - don't want to reveal the condition of our top pair is yet bullshit. Tan Fook has never been the most reliable of players, and Chong Ming should be paired with Choon Eng, if at least to aclimatise to the competitive atmosphere in Manchester. We have lost one potential gold from this blunder.
I'm sad to hear about this. I didn't manage to wake up and see the match between Malaysia and England. Personally, I'm really fed up with Choong Tan Fook. He along with Lee Wan Wah are the World Bronze Medallists for nothing, I think. Tony Gunawan (I'm sure he is still the best player), Candra Wijaya, Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon still managed to keep their standard after Sydney Olympics, but Choong/Lee can't. In the occassions when Malaysia has the hope to win, they give the win to other side. This is not the first time Choong Tan Fook did it. He and Lee Wan Wah did this before in the 2001 Sudirman Cup. And the 2002 Thomas Cup. I'm wondering, if his standard is really so low, how can he be in the Olympic Semifinals? I think it's not technique that matters, but fighting spirit. Personally, I'm shocked by the news that Chew Choon Eng was rested. Did he play the mixed doubles? If he did, then I'm still quite relieved, at least he is still in good shape. But if he didn't, then I'm worried that he's sick. Another conjecture is Park Joo Bong wants to hide the true ability of the 1st Malaysian Doubles. But I doubt this saying as I don't think their Mixed Team is so bad until they don't want to fight for it. But about the critiscm against Park, I don't agree as I feel he's still a good coach, it's just Choong/Lee's attitude that matters. What do you expect from a teacher when his student's don't listen to him? Park's ability is proven by the fact he can bring up Chan/Chew to a top class pair. Anyway, just hope Malaysia's hope to win 2 gold medals in MS and MD will come true.
Dear ALI, I am also worried about Chew Choon Eng, as he did not play at all yesterday. However, the good news is that we have one ladies singles who seem to have come off age...Wong Meiw Choo. She literally trashed Julia Mann (8-6, 7-2, 7-3), and Julia Mann is no lousy player, she has beaten top Chinese girls before. I just hope she can win a medal to make up for this disappointment. I totally agree with you about Choong Tan Fook, he and Wan Wah cannot be relied upon anymore. They have always given away crucial points, and to supposedly lesser opponents. When I saw them play against Canada before England, there were signs already that Tan Fook is in one of his crazy moods. Virtually 90% of the mistakes were made by him. Chan Chong Ming was just so damn good, he covered the court well, and his smashes were so explosive and sharp. I am very disappointed with Tan Fook, he can no longer be counted on. At this point, I am rather worried about the condition about our mens doubles, since we only habve 1 reliabe pair, it is going to be a challenge to win the gold, especially with the English pair playing so well.
Malaysia's current batch are basically useless. Often crumble under pressure. Other than Chan Chong Ming, the rest are not reliable at all. It's really a wake up call for the coaches to spend their efforts in developing young juniors into world class beaters. No point wasting breath and energy on players like Lee Wan Wah, Choong Tan Fook, Chang Kim Wai and Chew Choon Eng who will no go any better!
Poor Chan Chong Ming... I really hope there's nothing wrong with Chew Choon Eng, if not with the strong home crowd behind England, Malaysia can probably forget about the MD gold as well... Supposedly Chan Chong Ming and Choong Tan Fook performed well during practice, better than the original pairing of Chan/Chew, which is why the coaches sent them. For those worrying about the future of Malaysia's MDs, you can perhaps take consolation in the fact that they are on course to producing another pair of world junior champs in Koo Kian Keat and Ong Soon Hock.
Malaysia created world junior champions before. They are Chan Chong Ming and Jeremy Gan. But where has Jeremy Gan disappeared to? Pei Wei Chung (if I'm not mistaken) is also the World Junior Silver Medalist, but where is he too? I think Malaysia must emphasize on the junior players. But I think we should not blame Park Joo Bong for this. If players can respect him well just like how the men singles players respect Indra Gunawan, then they would certainly excel in men doubles. Besides that, who would take over Park's place if he really leaves Malaysia? But for me, I really hope that the likes of Razif and Jalani Sidek would be able to coach Malaysian doubles teams together with Park. As for Choong Tan Fook, he should not give any more excuses. He better perform well in the individual event, or else, I think BAM should take drastic actions. This is also a warning for players who don't take the game seriously that no matter how good they are, they would be kicked out of the squad if they underperform everytime.
A Similar Incident I suppose the Malaysian coaches had probably under estimated the England pair. A similar incident like this occured, i remember reading but never saw the match. It took place at the last Sudirman Cup in Seville. Where Indonesia were taking on Denmark. Suprisingly, Indonesia fielded a scratch pair against if i am not wrong Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen. The indo pair were Flandi Limpele and Sigit Budiarto. Sigit is an exceptional player but i have to admit he isn't the backbone in his regular pairing with Candra Wijaya. And Flandi wasn't really much competition for the other 2 indonesian pairs at that time naming Candra/Sigit and Tony/Halim when he was partnering Eng Hian. So what were the indonesian coaching staff thinking?? They took a gamble, and luckily pulled it off, otherwise there would have been much criticism. Prehaps the Malaysian coaches are doing the same??
Under esitmating opponents will only bring disaster. Plus Malaysia were not facing a team from Africa or something, this is England. Furthermore, the English pair has been playing well lately. I still don't understand the logic behind this scratch pair.
The reports about Malaysia's "expected but difficult to swallow" defeat leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Malaysian media today came out with all guns firing, codeming both Park Joo Bong and Choong Tan Fook for the failure. The former being blamed for taking the occasion too lightly by putting a scratch pair, and the latter for underestimating his opponents. Wong Mew Choo probably played one of the best matches of her life, but unfortunately the effort was not appreciated by some people. Choong Tan Fook has a careless aura surrounding him sometimes that pisses me off. He often takes matters lightly, and does not acknowledge the enormity of a nation's and team mates expectations placed on him. He has failed the country time and time again, what the hell is he still doing in the national squad. I have said it before and I will say it again, I really miss the services of Cheah Soon Kit, Yap Kim Hock, Razif/Jalani Sidek during times like this. They never failed the country, even if they loose, it had never been to lesser opponents. They played the game with a passion only matched by Chan Ching Ming now in doubles.
I agree with you yet again wl2172. I was in my school comp lab when I read the articles from The Star and New Straits Times, and I was almost going to blow my top in there after reading what Park JB and Choong Tan Fook had to say. What on earth did he mean by saying "there was not much difference between Kim Wai and Chong Ming in terms of their play”????? OBVIOUSLY there's a GIGANTIC diff. Argh. I was feeling real good when I read the article in the NST by the NST Sports Team. Sarcastic they may be, but that's exactly what is happening.
Firstly I think PJB has done a good job with Malaysia, I remember one of big events before he took over and Malaysia didn't have a single player/pair in a semi. Now they have several world class players again. He certainly did wonders for Englands doubles, with Archer, Goode and Robertson all acheiving at higher levels than England had done for a decade or more. I feel the scoring to 7 favours the English a lot in these matches, where as Robertson/Clark can match the Malaysians for strength,attitude tactics in mobility and speed in a long match the Malaysians should still prevail. The matches under this system are generally scrappy and inconsistent, if a pair loses the first few points and goes 5-1 down they often "concede" the end and gear up for the next game so you get a lot of these 7-1, 1-7, 7-2, etc matches. There is little benefit in playing a more defensive game
But it's hard to believe that the Malaysians can concede the match despite taking a 6-1 lead in the 4th game. Perhaps Choong Tan Fook's mind is in Hard Rock Cafe! He's no longer hungry for success. Better pack his bags and GO!!!
You are quite right whizkelv, if he has no desire to win anymore, he should pack his bags. However, I am less inclined to put much blame on PJB as he has put in a lot of effort to bring the doubles standard up. Chan Chong Ming is one example, he is the supreme doubles player that can attack, defend, counter-attack, speed up or take the speed away at will. Park Joo Bong is basically moulding Chan into another PJB. But the others are not really there yet, and with baggage like Chong Tan Fook, it is hard. The teacher cannot do anything if the student refuse to follow.
wl2172, I call it Malaysian culture! The players tend to be complacent after achieving one success. Choong Tan Fook- Lee Wan Wah was at their peak in 1999 when they bagged 3 titles in a row. But after that, they have gone downhill and were nowhere near the top Koreans and Indonesians. The same goes to Chan-Chew pairing, they gave the nation a lot of promise when they were first paired up in 2000 whereby they beat Ha-Kim in the Malaysian Open. Then, they slowed down but consistently reached the last 8 and semis for the following 1 year plus before bagging the Japan Open this year. Following the success in Tokyo, they have gained the world no 1 status for one month. Sad to say, their form dropped again in the Malaysian Open last month when they went down to the Chinese no 3 pair. I definitely will not be surprised if there isn't any Malaysian pair in the Commonwealth Games men's doubles final. Take note that Chan-Chew are capable of losing to the English pair as well. Chew Choon Eng can be as erratic as Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah. Chan Chong Ming may be an excellent player as in the class of his mentor, PJB.... but without a strong partner as in the class of Kim Moon-soo or Kim Dong-moon, he could just end up in the list of "screwed-up" Malaysian doubles player. Pardon my language... but I'm just feeling pretty irritated with such stupid losses by our doubles player!!
I really feel that we should not blame Park Joo Bong. Actually, I'm sure Park fieled Chan Chong Ming and Choong Tan Fook because they are good in practice. I remember last year, after the Seville World Championships, Park Joo Bong splitted the 2 doubles pairing, and paired Chan Chong Ming with Choong Tan Fook and Chew Choon Eng with Lee Wan Wah. He said that he wanted the best players to form a best pair. So, this proves that Park has faith on Chan and Choong. That time, I also agree with his decision because that time, Choong Tan Fook is a wonderful player. These 2 pairs played in Malaysia National Circuits and they Chan/Choong always meet Chew/Lee at the finals. The outcome, it is usually Chan/Choong who won. I won't say Park Joo Bong understimated the English pair. He doesn't have that type of attitude. If he has that type of attitude, then it's impossible for him to be a famous top doubles player, isn't it? Chan Chong Ming and Choong Tan Fook have always been their backbones for their respective partnership. And, I don't think the reason that they have no experience playing together is not a good reason. They train together. They played tournaments together before. If they can't partner each other well, then they will be extinct soon. If they can't adapt to changes, then they can't go far in badminton. So, we should not put the blame on Park Joo Bong. Instead, we should pray that Malaysia will be able to win 2 gold medals in badminton (especially MD), so that Park Joo Bong will stay in Malaysia. Losing him is really a big loss to Malaysia's badminton.
Hi ALI, if your assumption is correct, then I would like to urge all Malaysians to forget our gold medal dreams in the mens doubles event. If the best pairing could not beat the English, then why should we "dumbed" ourselves??? Instead, we should look upon Wong Mew Choo to deliver a surprise 2nd gold medal in badminton for Malaysia.
