PETALING JAYA: This is the year of the Olympics and it has seen the government dangling carrots in the form of lucrative incentives and pension schemes. Even head coach Yap Kim Hock was quoted recently as saying that the priority for the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) was to prepare the shuttlers towards the ultimate target of winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Beijing in August. But as far as doubles coach Rexy Mainaky is concerned, the Thomas Cup Finals in Jakarta from May 11-18 are equally important and he is demanding the same commitment from his charges. “Everyone is talking about the Olympics but the Thomas Cup Finals are just as important,” said Rexy yesterday. Main threat: Malaysia’s doubles coach Rexy Mainaky feels that China, led by Lin Dan, are the favourites to retain the Thomas Cup. “When I was a player for Indonesia, it was everyone’s dream to make the team and to play in the Thomas Cup. “I think Malaysian players should have that hunger in them to fight it out.” As the most prestigious team competition, Rexy felt that China, led by their three top singles stars in Lin Dan, Bao Chunlai and Chen Jin, are favourites to retain the title on paper. “China are very strong in the singles department and, since they are capable of even winning all three points from the singles, are the team to beat,” said Rexy. “But Malaysia, like Indonesia, have a 50-50 chance to tip the odds if the doubles players rise to the occasion. “Hopefully, the doubles pairs can maintain a good record in the competition again like what we went through in Japan.” In the last Thomas Cup Finals in Tokyo two years ago, Malaysia’s doubles players lost only one match and that was in the tie against South Korea in the quarter-finals. Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat lost to Hwang Ji-man-Lee Jae-jin but they redeemed themselves to beat Danes Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen in their match-up in the semi-final. Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah also beat Mathias Boe-Carsten Morgensen but their efforts failed to help Malaysia, who lost all three singles matches to go out of the competition. Malaysia will go for a combination of four singles and three doubles pairs for the Thomas Cup squad and the line-up will be finalised after the coaching committee meeting tomorrow. Veterans Tan Fook- Wan Wah will feature as the first doubles pair, followed by Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif based on their current world rankings. Lee Chong Wei, Wong Choong Hann and Mohd Hafiz Hashim are also certainties for the singles berths while it will be a toss-up between youngster Mohd Arif Latif and the more experienced Yeoh Kay Bin for the final singles slot. Third seeds Malaysia have South Korea and England for company in Group B. Malaysia will need to beat South Korea to avoid meeting Indonesia in the quarter-finals.
This year's Thomas Cup will be a fight between China & Indonesia with South Korea & Denmark as dark horses.
China's strength lies principally in their three MS players. They alone should be good enough for a TC win over, say, Indonesia, Malaysia or Denmark. But not so against South Korea Both Park Sung-Hwan and Lee Hyun-Il have proved to be quite efficient at prematurely packing off Lin Dan, et al. And given the awesomely efficient Lee Yong-Dae - Jung Jae-Sung combo's determined run, I'd place my money on a China - South Korea showdown. Indonesia, Malaysia and Denmark seem destined to sit out the climax
So far, NOBODY (not even when CHN having Yang Yang, Zhao Jianhua and Xiong Guobao as singles) has yet to win the TC by winning all their 3 MS. I believe that this trend will continue...
Your statement is 100% valid esp TC is held in JKT I expect BCL to crumble (sorry, he looks a bit sissy to me)
yeah, coz the tie is always over after the 3rd match, ie. the 2nd singles! eg China 2006... first 3 matches, won all, 3-0, over...
I hope this time Rexy will not say cruel things like "Although they're playing in their homeground, INA shuttlers don't worry me at all."
Hmm.. ..both CHN and INA have respectable MS players; esp. this yr's squads. And it's true, the TC has never been won by all 3 singles alone. However, looking at the recent results & performances (as i think that's what Oldhand was inferring to), CHN's MS players do have an advantage over their INA counterparts. In other words, they were more consistent in their recent results/performances than the other MS players. On that note, the INA TC squad has the homecourt support to their advantage and we'll see if their MS players can step up and perform above their recent results.
It would be interesting to see whether CHN can nail the deciding 3rd MS when the score is tied at 2-2 after winning both MS but losing both MD.
Well.. ..that's my whole point all along. Depending on the order of play, it'll come down to the Singles players to decide the outcome, if it were to come down to that scenario above..
On paper the last match as decider will be CHN own, Simon has bad record against Chen Jin. Can Simon spring surprise here to beat CJ for the first time? I want to believe he can.
Hendrawan said that SS will be specially trained for this TC. However, by looking at his latest defeat at CJ's hand, I hope we can finish CHN before 3rd MS is fielded...
I think Simon won their first encounter? Then CJ won back. Two recent matches all go to CJ though. After watching Simon vs. CJ in this recent ABC, I indeed think Simon has good chance beating CJ. The match in ABC is much more closer than the score suggests. Simon did well in defence (compare 07 Swiss Final to see the difference). Simon somehow crumbled when leading 9:5 in the 2nd game, CJ won the next 11 points -- watch the match yourself to see how.
Totally agree Totally agree what Rexy said.Being crown in Olympic is every player's dream but Thomas Cup also an important title to all the badminton players.Thomas Cup=Badminton
