Malaysia Prepares for the Record Books

Saturday, 31 Mar 2007 Malaysia is well placed to perform at the forthcoming Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships in the southern Malaysian city of Johore Bahru from 10th to 15th April.

The tournament attracts the best players from the continent this year with some of the major stars primarily from China, Korea, Indonesia and homebred champions will be in the limelight of this event together with mercurial Indonesian hotshot Taufik Hidayat (right). After giving the All England the skip, Taufik who is presently 18th in BWF ranking, has found it necessary to pick up some useful ranking points in this tournament which will be the final avenue for such rewards.

The World Championships offer seeding to only the top eight BWF ranked players in the five disciplines. Taufik may not want to miss out on this facility after the experience of meeting Lin Dan in the opening Super Series in Kuala Lumpur early in January which saw him eliminated in the first round.

All of which leaves host Malaysia in an enviable position to make a realistic attempt to do well in the championships. There will be ranking points to take home and just as importantly, the opportunity to imprint its name in the record books in this top Asian tournament.

In the sixteen years since 1990, only three Malaysians have won the blue-riband men’s singles title – Rashid Sidek in ’91 & ’92, Foo Kok Keong in ’94 and Lee Chong Wei (left) last year. Success in the doubles had also been limited to just three pairs - Razif & Jalani Sidek in ’92, Cheah Soon Kit & Yap Kim Hock in ’95 and Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah last year. No lady, either in singles, doubles or mixed doubles managed a top podium finish in all those years. So understandably, in the absence of some leading players, there is a quiet optimism in the Malaysian camp that this year this record may be improved upon.

The full Malaysian contingent will be on show at the Asian Championship. The national association has not spared anyone. Leading the pack will be Lee Chong Wei in singles and the inimitable young pair of the moment – Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong in doubles (right).

Chong Wei’s currently rank no.4 will have home support and familiar surroundings, the Malaysian youngster has the best platform to redeem and atone. But China will still have Chen Hong and Chen Yu to worry Chong Wei and of course, Taufik will always be a threatening shadow to any title aspiration.

This may not be so with the doubles. With all the leading pairs of the world taking a rest, Kien Keat & Boon Heong should have a field day. Presently they are perched at 10th in world ranking. A good result at this BAC championship should propel them to automatic seeding at the World Championship. The recent series of top podium finishes at the Malaysian Open, All England Championship and the Swiss Super Series, have made the young Malaysians the favourite to add the Asian title to the three they have already won in their short career of under six months.

The girls are not expected to make a huge impact but few would be surprised if Wong Mew Choo creates history as the first Malaysian winner of the ladies singles in 16 years. In recent times she had done extremely well against some recognised players from China, Germany, France, Hong Kong and the Netherlands and the home environment may provide her the right impetus to set the records straight. Ranked 12th, Mew Choo though may need to be wary of Wang Chen of Hong Kong world rank no.6th and Mori Kaori and Hirose Eriko of Japan, ranked 11th and 12th. But the biggest threat will still come from the second echelon of players from China who will be at the Asian Championships - Lu Lan ranked 7th .

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