I can see that all the Malaysians went down fighting (except for Tan/Ong who lost rather tamely), and I am not too disappointed. But still, I couldn't help this general feeling of frustration and let-down. A few had first-set wins but ended up losing.
News from Press Wong Choong Hann-Chew Choon Eng The day started badly for Malaysia when Chew Choon Eng-Wong Choong Hann were forced to concede a walkover to England’s David Lindley-Kristian Roebuck in the men’s doubles first round after Choon Eng came down with high fever. Lee Chong Wei He was simply “too heavy” against the aggressive Hyun-il who took full advantage of the tired Malaysian to earn a quarter-final clash against Chunlai today. Said Chong Wei: “I am not disappointed. In sports you lose some and you win some. I was simply too tired to fight back.” Hafiz kia Hafiz looked good in the rubber when he took the lead at 7-2. Even two bad line calls did not affect the lanky Hafiz but Ng Wei then brought his defence into play to frustrate the Malaysian. Ng Wei kept the bird low to catch the Malaysian off-guard in the decider with the score tied at 12-12. Ng Wei reeled off the three points to take the match. Kuan Beng Hong Bao Chunlai ran out a 15-9, 15-12 winner over Beng Hong but the fast improving Malaysian gave the Chinese a run for his money. It was Chunlai’s experience at international level that proved to be the deciding factor. Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah Former number one Malaysian pair Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, playing in their first international after six months, fought a three-game battle against China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng before bowing out. The fifth seeds won the first round match 15-10, 10-15, 15-9. (The results I'm satisfied with, considering LWW had not competed in such high level competition and only made a come back for a very long time)
Looking at how Lin Dan dashed Ng Wei without any difficulties, I think Malaysian players are still far behind Chinese players. Judging from their current forms, they can forget about WC and next week's Malaysian Open. Even if they could spark some surprises in Malaysian Open, people would think that they are only good at home soil (jaguh kampung).I am very (xn) dissappointed with their performance in Singapore, I think neither Li Mao nor Rexy can help much.
Women Doubles Quarterfinal Last and the least Fail to advanced: [8]Chin Ee Hui-Wong Pei Tty beaten by Jo Novita-Gresya Polii, 15-11, 5-15, 3-15
Personally, I think Yap should re-evaluate his plan for men doubles. Since he became head of coaches in BAM, I dont think he has sufficient time to spare with his players. Recruiting Rexy might help a bit, but not enough to re-solve the whole problems as we have 5-6 doubles right now in senior team. Also, I think our first double KKK and CCM is not a successful combination. Honestly, they did not impress me a lot in the international tournaments. Personnally, I prefer KKK and CCE as this 'temporary' combination had at least surprised many with their performance in last year's Thomas Cup and Jati Invitation this year. May be Yap should pair up WCH and CCM instead. The long term focus should still be on young pairs and get them ready for next year Thomas Cup, WCs and 2008 Olympic.
I remember the best Open malaysian players perform is always the Malaysia Open.... hmmm. just look at recent year's malaysia open champions comparing to their achievements in other opens
LCW was MO champion last year. I remember Ong Hwe Hock and James Chua were also MO champions before. Apart from Ong who was once Malaysia key player, James Chua wasn't any great player internationally. Even look at LCW currently, he only won MO and Chinese Taipei Open champions last year, but nothing to be proud of in CTO because no major players took part. Sometimes, I just couldn't understand why Malaysian players are far behind compared to other badminton powers. They did trained hard I believe, but just lack of winning strikes in major tournaments. I think even coaches also couldn't do much for this. Anyway, who do you think in Malaysian team (current and previous) has best record in overseas tournaments?
