By the time i post this, i wonder if Lee Chong Wei had make it to the Semis at the on going Japan Open.
COME ON PLAYERS!!! PLAY WELL AGAIN. LOSE, LOSE IN 3 Games and not straight sets. Don;t give up...fight till the end. Like Nicol David and our national bowlers. Be like Tiger Woods, whose mental game is so strong that on final days, most players faulter under pressure just because he is playing with them.
Chong Wei the only Malaysian left in the fray
By RAJES PAUL
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei reached the quarter-finals of the Japan Open badminton championships in Tokyo yesterday but our men’s doubles suffered their worst ever results this year when none cleared the early rounds.
The 25-year-old Chong Wei, determined to make up for his poor showing in the World Championships at home last month, battled for 51 minutes to beat Singaporean Ronald Susilo 19-21, 21-8, 21-10.
Chong Wei, the only Malaysian left in the fray after the second day of action, will take on China’s Chen Jin in today’s quarter-finals.
Nusa Mahsuri’s Mohd Roslin Hashim and Yeoh Kay Bin crashed out in contrasting fashions yesterday.
Roslin gave a fighting performance before bowing out 11-21, 21-18, 11-21 to top seed and reigning world champion Lin Dan of China while Kay Bin went down at 11-21, 16-21 to Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.
It was, however, a good day for South Korean Park Sung-hwan, Hong Kong’s Chan Yan Kit and Indonesian Simon Santoso. They pulled off upset wins over Denmark’s Kenneth Jonasssen, China’s Chen Yu and Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana respectively.
The biggest letdown were the Malaysian men’s doubles players.
Good show: South Korea’s Park Sung-hwan and Hong Kong’s Chan Yan Kit (inset) scored upset wins over higher-ranked shuttlers – Kenneth Jonassen and Chen Yu respectively – in the Japan Open yesterday.
With the shock defeats of Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah yesterday, Malaysia failed to have at least one pair in the quarter-finals for the first time in an Open tournament this year.
The second-seeded Kien Keat-Boon Heong went down 19-21, 19-21 to Indonesians Alven Yulianto-Luluk Hadiyanto. It was their first defeat to the Indons.
Seasoned campaigners Tan Fook-Wan Wah, who were Malaysia’s top performers at last month’s world meet, fell 18-21, 16-21 to Indonesian-born Hendra Kurniawan Saputra-Hendra Wijaya of Singapore.
It was a double blow for Wan Wah as he aggravated an injury to his right knee.
National chief coach Yap Kim Hock played down the doubles wipe-out.
“It is a setback for us that none made it to the quarter-finals. We do not want to be too worried with the results of only one tournament,” said Kim Hock in a telephone interview from Tokyo. “Besides, there were other upsets too. Our goal is the Beijing Olympics and I am confident our players will get back on the right track.”
In the women’s singles, Wong Mew Choo failed to reproduce the form that saw her beat Xie Xingfang of China in the third round of the world meet. Yesterday, she lost 9-21, 15-21.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Hello Nightwing, I love badminton and really nice to read your this badminton posting.
Here in Canada people eat, sleep ice hockey and baseball and football (american football).
But badminton? Only get maybe 3 minutes on some news channels, or the Chinese channels!
My time Malaysia was a real terror on the badminton circuit.
To me those days any of the Malaysian champs would put today's Malaysian champs in their back pockets as well like a BMW M3 taking a Toyota Corolla.
My time it was a gurantee Malaysia takes home the Thomas cup, England cup.
One of the greatest Malaysian badminton players was Wong Peng Soon.
I was much younger than but have fooled around with him. He was dating my aunty then. I was 12 then.
His badminton dropshots were real killers. He could dropshots an inch on other side, many times the shuttlecock would actually land on the net, balance for a second or two then drop other side. He was that good!
The number of times he made opponents tear the net was hilarious. Why? Because of his deadly crosscourt dropshots, one or two inches from the net. His opponents would go thru the net trying to get it. Ha ha.
Then later there was the doubles player Punch Gunalan. He too was deadly with his high jumps and smashes. His smashes sounded like gun shots, "WHAACCK"! Game over! The number of racquets he changes during games was legend. A lot of opponents got hurt too from his gunshot smashes!
Then along came Indonesia's Rudy Hartono, 7 times world champion. Eddy Haryanto too.
These were real top class, state of the art badminton players....they eat, sleep badminton those days.
And when mention badminton, everyone in the world will say, "Malaysia"! Everyone knew the players I mentioned above.
Thomas cup? No sweat. Strictly straight sets. Anytime.
Those were the days Malaysia ruled the badminton courts.
I remember fooling around with Wong Peng Soon, State and National Champion countless times...he would give me 12 points handicap, ha ha and I still lost. I became like a fish in a net each time he does his legendary dropshots!
Yes, Nightwing, Malaysian badminton did ruled the world once upon a time.
By the way, which part of Sarawak you come from? Just curious. UL.
Hello Uncle Lee,
Wow, you know Mr Wong Peng Soon? That's great, heard of him and he was one of the top guns for Malaysian Badminton.
Like what you mentioned, with his array of killer shots people 'fear' him then. I mean some times the mental game sets the players apart. Mentioned Mr Wong's name, at that time is like mentioning Tiger Wood's name.
If they learn that they will be drawn to play him, people starts to sweat..nowadays, our players is like yo-yo..sometimes play great, sometimes....geram watch them play.
Yes, the players of yesteryears play for the country and some times even used own pocket money to travel...where got like today's players....
Uncle Lee, i am from Miri, Sarawak, which became a city 2 years ago. I bet you must have drop by when u were in Sarawak during your working time.
You have a great weekend now.
Hi Nightwing, I find you a very interesting young man. So glad you popped into my blog. I am always interested in people from the Land below the wind, or Land of the Hornbills, ha ha.
Once again, if you will pardon me, what nationality are you? Just curious as I first saw you I think at Pat's place.
I used to have a few Bidayu and Iban friends wayyy back in the 70's, but somehow lost touch as I travelled and move alot.
Yes, I have been to Miri, Sibu, KK, Kuching and many smaller towns, kampongs, and Bintulu, travelled up the Rejang, and few other big rivers...
Went over to East Malaysia several times, sometimes MAS, few times Company plane.
I was involved with Logging, civil works, construction, mining etc...and thus travelled a lot and often. And thats how I have quite a few cheritas to relate, ha ha.
But as my stories involve real people I don't actually give out exact locations or company names etc. Not nice.
While being involved with projects there, Tanjong Rhu Resort was one. Stayed there twice, even swam there in the sea till I found out got jelly fish, ha ha.
My wife's brother and family is in KK. We keep in touch quite often by phone.
Hey, you should tell some of your Miri experiences, should be fun.
Back to badminton...yes, I knew Wong Peng Soon. He was dating my aunty, and go over to my grandfather's house very often, also got a badminton court there and he would teach us to play.
I was 12, and never got more than 2 points from him. His smashes were killers, but he was also good at faking.
Many times he lompat high in the air and give indication a gunshot smash was coming when in midair he does a touch and does a gentle dropshot. That always game over for other side...they waiting for the loud smash, satu kali kena tipu with a crosscourt deadly dropshot.
Yes, he was THE KING then.
Keep well, Nightwing. UL.
Hi Nightwing
I have lost touch with sports. I used to follow the games of badminton, soccer, hockey and rugby.
Although we still have a handful of excellent athletes to salvage Malaysia's name, we are seriously in need of more. We used to do so well in sports in the 70s and 80s. Those glory days are over when we excelled all around in sports. Nowadays, there is too much waste of money on unnecessary things. Some good athletes are overlooked because other mediocre athletes are favoured by the influential people in the sports arena. That seriously needs to change.
Hello JT,
Ya, agree with you on Malaysia lost of talent in the sporting world. Changes must be made to stop the rot.
Will try to update sports news for you...hehe.
At least for football, there is a chance for the Under 23 team who had done well in the recent Merdeka tournament. As long this group stay focus, they will go far. Hope they do well this year's SEA game.
Hi Uncle Lee, me interesting?..hehe I think you are more interesting...but thanks for the kind words.
I am a local Chinese and dad is from Miri. Really can;t wait for your East Malaysia stories.
Will update more later, at the moment in kch...will post why i am here.
Take care now..cheers.
Post a Comment