MALAYSIA’s pride in badminton was dealt a big blow at the Tan Binh Sports Centre in Ho Chi Minh City last night. Their men’s team, who were at full strength, suffered the humiliation of going down to the Indonesian second stringers in the semi-finals. What was expected to be a stroll for the top seeds and defending champions ended in defeat in the first three matches of the tie. Malaysian number one Wong Choong Hann, the rejuvenated veteran doubles pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and the Games men’s singles title holder Mohd Roslin Hashim (pic) were all brought down to earth by their opponents. Indonesia hardly felt the absence of their top singles player Taufik Hidayat and their number one pair of Candra Wijaya-Halim Hariyanto. Two-time Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) winner Sony Dwi Kuncoro set Indonesia on the road to victory with a 15-10, 15-7 win over Choong Hann. After losing three consecutive times to Choong Hann this year, Sony came well-prepared to stage one of his more remarkable attacking games to beat the Taiwan Open champion. Said a dejected Choong Hann: “I knew it would be tough against Sony and as expected it was a very tight first game. After we tied at 9-9, he pulled away when I committed several mistakes.” Choong Hann played a poor second game and Sony, who had beaten Choong Hann only once this year in the Swiss Open in March, punished the Malaysian with sharp smashes and raced to a 13-2 lead and wrapped up the match easily at 15-7. After Choong Hann’s defeat, it was left to China Open runners-up Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah to even the tie for Malaysia. But the duo squandered a 12-5 lead in the first game of their match against the Indonesian third ranked pair of Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto and eventually lost the match at 15-12, 15-5. It was all on Roslin to save Malaysia the blushes but he suffered the embarrassment of losing 8-15, 17-14, 15-11 to 18-year-old Simon Santoso. Choong Hann said that they had no excuse for their failure to beat an under-strength Indonesia. “The Indonesians had nothing to lose and they went all out. But there should be no excuse on how we played today. It was totally disappointing. We have to make amends in the individual events,” he said. The results of the two dead matches – the second doubles and third singles – were not available at press time.
What a joke Can't figure out our own Malaysian players, when you think is a sure win then bad results happened, again and again. And when you almost give up then they will make some surprising performance. One thing for sure, Malaysian players are consistently inconsistent. All seniors should be booted out after Olympic, do it like China, no results no free meal.
Yup very dissapointing! Expect the Unexpected from the Msians Players. It has been happening since we lost the Last Thomas Cup. Something must be change in the minds of the players and the badminton Org in Msia.
Re: What a joke You're not the only confused dudes around here. I have no idea what is going on sometimes with Malaysian badminton. You'd see them play fantastically, beating one top class opponent after another during the year, to suddenly slip and fall against younger and unheralded opponents. (I could feel my blood pressure climb when I read the news on The Star0) Perhaps they are simply not serious enough about the SEA Games or something or perhaps brought down by overconfidence (which I think is). Of course, second stringers, how hard can it be? Wrong. The best in the world beats EVERYBODY - good or not so good. Something about the need to meet the best to play the best? No way dude.
Coach Misbun still has faith in shuttlers THE Malaysian shuttlers’ inability to live up to expectations when they are given the top billings returned to haunt them on Sunday when they failed in their defence of the men’s team gold medal. At full strength, they were beaten by an Indonesian team made up of fresh faces in the semi-finals. The pressure has now mounted on singles players Wong Choong Hann and defending champion Roslin Hashim to redeem themselves in the individual men’s singles competition, which begins tomorrow at the Tan Binh Sports Centre in Ho Chi Minh City. Top seeded Malaysia were expected to sail through their semi-final tie against Indonesia but everything that could go wrong happened. In the end, Malaysia succumbed to an embarrassing 2-3 defeat. Choong Hann went down 10-15, 7-15 to two-time Asian Badminton Championships winner Sony Dwi Kuncoro while Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah also ate humble pie, losing 12-15, 5-15 to Alven Yulianto-Luluk Hadiyanto. Roslin was next and he failed to save the tie, going down 15-8, 17-14, 15-11 to Simon Santoso. In the dead matches, Chew Choon Eng-Chang Kim Wai defeated Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan 10-15, 15-8, 15-9 while Lee Chong Wei overcame Wimpie Mahardi 15-10, 15-7. It was the first time in more than 20 years that Malaysia failed to reach the final. But singles head coach Misbun Sidek kept a brave face upfront. “I had been saying earlier that Indonesia are no pushovers. They did not have the regular campaigners but the youngsters, Sony and Simon, are no easy players to beat,” said Misbun. “Sony is already a world-class player and we knew Choong Hann would be stretched. “Simon has beaten the world’s top players, among them Shon Seung-mo, Peter-Gade Christensen and Xia Xuanze. “I noticed that our players were clearly under pressure against the fast improving young Indonesian players.” Misbun still has confident in his charges and believes that they will bounce back in the individual competitions. “The players have experienced the worst and they should be more fired up to make amends. Choong Hann’s focus is still as strong and he is aware that he played badly against Sony. Roslin is still a bit down,” he said. Choong Hann and Roslin will have to put their humbling defeats away and concentrate on the task at hand. Besides Sony, the other top contenders for the gold medal are Singapore’s Ronald Susilo and Thailand’s Boonsak Polsana.
Come on guys ! you have to give credits to those Indonesian shuttlers ! hehe About Wong Choon Han, we all know as human that we are not invincible in anything. One day, Somehow Sony will conquer Wong and it happen precisely in that day.
Team defeat a wake-up call The semi-final defeat to Indonesia's second stringers is a bitter pill to swallow, but national doubles coach Yap Kim Hock believes it is a timely wake-up call to the Malaysians shuttlers to do well in the individual events which get underway at the Tan Binh Indoor Stadium tomorrow. With head coach Misbun Sidek floored by a bout of fever, Kim Hock was left to answer the men's team's 3-2 loss to Indonesia, and said the individual events will be the platform for the shuttlers to redeem their battered pride. "It is frustrating and sickening to be unable to defend our team title, but it has given the players a rude shock," said Kim Hock when met at the team's hotel yesterday. "Nothing can be taken for granted and yesterday's loss demonstrated how true that is. It is a wake-up call but I believe it will spur the players to make amends in the individual events." Today is a rest day for badminton. Indonesia came to the Games with a young squad after giving the boot to seasoned campaigners like Taufik Hidayat and the doubles pairs of Candra Wijaya-Halim Haryanto and Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian. In their absence, the Indonesian challenge was helmed by two-time Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) singles champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Malaysia, the defending champions, were expected to sweep past Indonesia but Wong Choong Hann and company were humiliated instead. Choong Hann and Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah fell to straight games defeat to Sony and Luluk Hadianto-Alven Yulianto respectively while Roslin Hashim was humbled b y 18-year-old Simon Santoso. "To some players like Choong-Lee, the loss is a blessing in disguise. They never play well in the team event or when they are expected to win," added Kim Hock. "But now that they have lost, you will see a different side to their game." Kim Hock also believes the team's target in the individual events remain unchanged even though they lost to Indonesia on Monday. "We still have the chance to win the gold in the men's singles and doubles. The loss has not affected our confidence. "But having said that, we need to put the defeat behind and concentrate on the task at hand, and that is to win the individual events." For nothing less will redeem the team's battered image.
