TheStar Dec 2 INDONESIA will be left ruing their decision to commit their ace in the pack, world and Olympic badminton champion Taufik Hidayat, to only the team event. On Wednesday, Malaysia snatched the men’s team gold from their arch-rivals with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in the final at Philsports Multisports Complex in Pasig City, an achievement that left chief coach Yap Kim Hock a satisfied man. As far as Kim Hock is concerned, it is not just the honour of winning the gold but the fact that it has fired up the players to challenge strongly for honours in the individual events as well. “If we had lost the team gold last night, the players would have been down in confidence. This is no good because they have to play the following day. There is no rest day unlike the last time in Vietnam,” he said. “Now, I see determination in them after taking the gold which Indonesia had coveted most.” For the record, it is only the fourth time that Malaysia have won the men’s team gold in the history of the biennial Games. On Lee Chong Wei's defeat by Taufik in the first singles match, Kim Hock said that it could have gone either way. “He caught up to 13-all (in the first game) and had a good chance to kill the shuttle. But he made a half-court return instead,” said Kim Hock. “It is dangerous to allow a player like Taufik too much room. But it’s okay because this is the first time Chong Wei is playing at first singles in a team event. He will learn from it.” All appeared lost for Malaysia after Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat were beaten by Alven Yulianto-Luluk Hadiyanto in the second match. But Mohd Hafiz Hashim sparked a fightback, beating Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Malaysia went on to win the tie with Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah beating Markis Kidho-Hendra Setiawan and Wong Choong Hann downing Simon Santoso. Chong Wei is taking his defeat by Taufik in good stride. He went out jogging yesterday morning ahead of his challenge for individual honours. “Coach (Kim Hock) told me not to take the defeat too hard. I felt better later because the team managed to come back to win the gold,” said the top-seeded Chong Wei. “Taufik is not playing in the individual event. Winning the gold medal is one of the targets I want to achieve this year and I will not take anyone lightly.” Chong Wei had a first-round bye and lived dangerously against Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) last night, winning 10-15, 17-14, 15-7 to book his place in the semi-finals.
I think PBSI is right in giving Simon and Sony the chance. Sea Games is no longer an important target. In fact, other sports should also concentrate on winning Asian and Olympic rather than Sea Games
Indeed. PBSI make the right decision with Taufik. This is not something regrettable as other may think. If only we have another good MS player, Taufik would not have played here at all. I think the attitude toward SEA GAMES has been slightly changed since Badminton become one of Olympic sport. SEA GAMES is important for young players to gain experience, so hopefully they will be mature enough when the time has come for them to compete in tougher & bigger event such as ASIAN GAMES and Olympic, and to replace their senior. It's obvious that Malaysia has a different opinion. It seem they make this event as one of the most important target. At least, that's how we see it. If PBSI was in BAM shoes, I am sure young players will be chose.
Indonesia now are giving exposure to younger player at SEA games level but I do think they still wanna win the gold if possible
Appreciated to Thailand Olympics Comitee who decide not send their world class players to SEA Games. They "only" send 2nd layer players in Boxing while their best player concentrate in higher event. They didn't send Paradorn & Tamarine to dominate in SEA Games while one country needed to import US players. The National Comitee of South East Asia Country should be have higher oriented not just SEA Games. Compare with East Asia Country (China, Japan & Korea) we left with big gap.
All these discussions have proved is that losing, regardless of your country of origin, is indeed very hard to accept. Nevertheless, it is integral part of all sporting events. Let's just focus on the spirit behind the games, which is to strengthen the brotherhood among the ASEAN member countries through friendly competition. Ultimately, how we conduct ourselves will matter more than whether we won or lost.
That's a good decision, in my opinion. For Indonesian badminton, it seem the PBSI had to make a *compromize* with the KONI (Indonesia Sport Comitee) who want to send full-team players. For instance, in MX it's Lilyana/Nova and Anggun/Yunita that were sent, instead of Devin Lahardi/Vita Marissa and Endang Nursugianti/M Rizal as initially planned by PBSI. In MD it is time for Markis/Hendra to play for the nation. Reading in Bola of how Markis/Hendra so excited after chosen for the SEA GAMES. "Do we deserve this?" I hope they will do better in the individual event after *learning the lesson from the good loss*. Hehe, of course that's true. Who doesn't want? Will be a bonus if the medals delivered by young players who in the future will deliver Olympic's medals, hopefully
Because of INA & MAS strength and tradition in badminton, it has pulled the standard up so much that Thailand and Singapore are now quite strong on the world stage. "Upstarts" like Vietnam are the next nation to potentially burst onto the scene and badminton has never been more popular in the Philippines. It's great that this slipstream has been created for aspiring badminton nations. Perhaps it's time now for the badminton giants of INA and MAS to treat the SEA games like a stepping stone to international competition for their up and comers. Maybe it would be wise for the PBSI and BAM to agree to send their U-21 teams (or something equivalent) to test them against the full Thailand and Singapore teams (no disrespect to them). Now wouldn't that even the playing field a little and make the competition more exciting? Isn't the policy of football in the SEA games to have U-23 teams only? If it works for that sport, why not badminton. I think it would only work though if PBSI and BAM both agreed to it. Otherwise if one association sends its strongest players, it forces the other to do so too. And the vicious cycle continues. No one likes to lose, especially between INA and MAS.
I concur with the argument that for SEA Games, its better to send the juniors. It is a platform for them to prove their potential to their respective sporting bodies (eg: PBSI). Actually, PBSI sent a very much inexperienced team to last SEA Games and surprise surprise: they won the men's team and singles gold, triumphing against a much more experienced Malaysian side. I am not sure why the sudden change in emphasis now? Maybe the compromise with KONI (which I think have failed miserably this time....who's the head of KONI anyway?) Sony has proven that he can raise to another level from winning a SEA Games gold to an Olympic bronze in just less than 1 year. With the Asian Games and Thomas Cup looming next year, it's actually better for PBSI to send the juniors so that they will know if these young players are capable of handling the mental pressure of representing the nation. Markis/Hendra is definitely a pair for the future and its good to let them taste the bitter and sweet feelings of defeat and winning medals for the country. Asian Games and Olympics are for sure bigger than SEA Games and badminton (+ tennis) happens to be the two main sources of medal for the entire Team Indonesia. Its useless if we can get gold in SEA Games, but got clobbered and ended up with nothing in Asian Games and Olympics.
It's Agum Gumelar, a retired general and.... Taufik Hidayat's future in law. Maybe it's Agum who wanted Taufik to play in SEA GAMES. The media criticise that decision, though. That's exactly the point, for badminton.
You're only looking from the point of view of badminton only. The SEA Games is the ultimate regional multi-sport event. Why is there an interest to level the playing field? Will the Phillippines send their second-rate cagers to level the playing field? Will the Thais send junior boxers to level the field? No, of course not. Nations want to win medals. But of course, when you are world-class, then the SEA Games gold medal is less valuable to you. Then it depends on how you give priority. If there is nothing else going on around that time, why not go for it? There are plenty of "A" tournaments around for the juniors to take part in. That's because there is already a regional tournament (called the Tiger Cup) for football. There isn't one for badminton. It's sort of like football in Olympics is also for the youth only because there is already the World Cup.
According to Sandy's post above, Thailand send their 2nd layer players in Boxing while their best player concentrate in higher event. Which one is true, then?
Every sport association has an objective when they send their atheletes to compete. Believe or not, some of them are there to gain experience for the future. Look at the INA badminton team in 2003. Yes they did win but they weren't the cream of the crop. They were basically there to be exposed to competition. So they overachieved. Another poster mentioned earlier Thailand had only sent their second rank boxers to these games. Yes nations want to win medals but not necessarily at the cost of testing out their future stars. Whether there is another event going on at the same time is immaterial. The point is that this is a great opportunity for accociations with the foresight to let their youngsters gain experience in a fairly big tournamnet. For INA and MAS they have to look beyond this border battle of I must be better than you at badminton. Like I mentioned PBSI and BAM should have an agreement on sending younger players in future SEA games. The Taufiks and LCWs of this world really have bigger fish to fry. As for evening the playing field, why not? It would certainly create more interest in the region, allowing more nations the opportunity to pick up medals. You might be surprised to see in the end that INA and MAS will still be dominant.
2nd layer doesn't meant junior player but not the best player, maybe rank #2 or #3. Since last 1 or 2 SEA Games, Thailand sent different team to SEA Games with team of "A" category tournament (World Championships, Olympics Qualifying, Asian Games, etc).
Sorry, my wild assumption is wrong then. But they still win the gold medals don't they? It's like squash for Malaysia. We don't have to send the bests, because the next will do the same.
It depends on how important an association thinks the SEA Games is, I guess. To many, the SEA Games is the ultimate. Do you test your athletes in important events like Thomas Cup? No, you test them on other minor tournaments. I fear if players like Taufik and LCW would naturally skip the SEA Games, it will create an unhealthy precedence. Should then, for instance, Ronald and Boonsak, not take part as well? They are about the same league as LCW and Taufik. If they take part, is is shameful for them? How about Wong MC, Li Li and Xing Aiying. They are in the world top 20 and should be tackling the bigger fish as well. Should they bother themselves with the SEA Games? My personal opinion is that if there are no important events during the time, the best athletes should take part. When you are levelling the playing field, you are making it lower, and it could adversely affect interest in the region.
