Sport: Badminton: Ready to give up Thomas Cup glory NSTP - EMedia S.S. Dhaliwal Send to a friend | Printable Page IN a bold move, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) revealed that they were prepared to sacrifice the Thomas Cup in order to deliver the nation’s first gold medal at the Olympics. The decision, which was taken at a meeting of the Coaching and Training Committee, shows that BAM know their priorities and are prepared to make sacrifices in order to bring the elusive Olympic gold to Malaysian shores. There is no doubt that badminton is the only sport in the country which is capable of delivering a gold medal at the Olympics. But the decision to sacrifice the Thomas Cup, which is largely accepted as the World team tournament title, was made in order to fulfil the nation’s hopes and aspirations. “It will be extremely difficult for the players to peak twice in a space of three months and hence, we had to make a decision,” said BAM president Datuk Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh. “The Thomas Cup Finals will be held in May whereas the Olympics in August, and we want those who qualify for the Athens Olympics to focus solely on delivering the gold. “In fact, we will also leave these players out of the Malaysian Open scheduled for July. “We have to get our priorities right and to the BAM, delivering a gold at the Olympics tops our list of priorities. “Having said that, I must reiterate that the final decision to rest the players will have to be made by the coaches.” Nadzmi said for the Thomas Cup qualifiers, Malaysia will be represented by their best players and there was no question of holding back in trying to make the Thomas Cup Finals. The decision to rest the players received the thumbs up from coaches Misbun Sidek and Yap Kim Hock. “Our preparations for 2004 are geared towards getting our players into the Olympics and winning a gold medal,” said Misbun. “I do not think that we should be overly worried about the Thomas Cup as we have capable players who can shoulder the responsibility.” BAM also revealed plans to prepare players for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics with a systematic selection and exposure of players. “What we need to do is to ensure that the players know their targets early and are mentally tuned towards achieving the objective,” said Nadzmi. “So a comprehensive programme will be drawn up by the coaches to ensure that those identified will benefit from close attention during training and be given suitable international exposure to help them develop into world-beaters.”
Not a bad decision after all! Wong CH, Choong-Lee are virtually qualified for the Athens Games. My bets are Hafiz Hashim and Chan-Chew will join them. Though Lee CW will make a serious bid to qualify as Malaysian no 2, the game is still in Misbun's hands to make sure Hafiz really make it. Assuming the coaches take full advantage of BAM's stand, we will see brand new faces for Malaysian TC squad next year. Not a bad thing after all, as no one will be able to challenge Indonesia in Istora Senayan, Jakarta. So, it's good to expose the new generations under such situation. Now, let's speculate who will Malaysia field and what are their chances to finish as no 2 behind Indonesia (a sure winner even before the bird was hit). Of the senior batch of singles players, only Lee CW, Roslin Hashim and Lee TS were left. So, at least one new name will make the squad. A toss-up between Yeoh KB and Kuan BH, but Yeoh KB should be the front-runner based on better international results. In doubles, I think the brand new generation will get the nod over the underperformed pair of Chang KW-Hong CH. So, we will see new faces like Gan TC, Koo KK, Ong SH, Lin WF, Jack Koh, etc... A bit too much to expect them to deliver against the likes of Kim-Ha, Lee-Yoo, Cai-Fu, Sang-Zheng, Jonas-Lars, Martin-Jens... So, to have any chances to finish as no 2, Malaysia needs to win all 3 singles matches. Lets match them up... vs China 1st singles: Lee CW vs Chen Hong 2nd singles: Roslin vs Lin Dan 3rd singles: Lee TS vs Bao CL ---> A very tough deal! Almost impossible for Roslin to beat Lin Dan, and I give Lee CW and Lee TS 30% chance to win. So, it's quite an impossible task to beat China with such line-up! vs Korea 1st singles: Lee CW vs Lee HI 2nd singles: Roslin vs Shon SM 3rd singles: Lee TS vs Park TS ---> A much better chance to win compare to the match-up against China. All 3 Malaysians have beaten their Korean opponents before but the chances will still be 50-50 for all 3 matches. The first 2 matches will likely be tightly contested. vs Denmark 1st singles: Lee CW vs Kenneth J 2nd singles: Roslin vs Peter Gade 3rd singles: Lee TS vs Anders Boesen/Peter Rasmussen ---> Will be tough for Lee CW and Roslin but its not impossible. Lee TS probably has the best chance to secure a point in 3rd singles. Based on above analysis, the best Malaysia can hope for with the 2nd stringers will be to make it to the semis by beating Korea and hopefully Denmark. Of course, it's too early to conclude with still 4 months plus to go... anything could happen. But just for some New Year fun to analyze this out...
Personally, I also rank IND to be the favorite. However, with the rise of young stars in CHN, I think the mighty CHN army finally got "2 legs" (well, 1.5 at least). In the past 10+ yrs, CHN could only rely on their MS to carry the load in TC (thank god SC has the lady army support), as their MD was no where near to be top. As Li Yongbo once said, "well, we could not even dream about to get TC back..." Now, maybe too early, but CHN fans can surly qualify to set up a "sweet dream" behind their young stars, and sooner or later, it will also be the nightmare for other power houses.
Since BAM have come out and said this early, it means less pressure on the team. Overall, I agree this is a good decision. In earlier Thomas Cup campaigns, M'sia almost always puts out it's highest ranked players to play. Younger guys do not get so much exposure. 2004 could be the year when those younger guys get a taste of the action and responsibility. Some of them should respond well. The last M'sian player to show any proven consistency is Chan CM (IMO). Others have not been able to maintain their early promise. It's been a lean period for M'sia.
