[size=-1]The Star Online > Sports[/size] Monday April 26, 2004[size=+2]Indon ends teammate Sony’s bid for third ABC title[/size] BY RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: A determined Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia scored his first ever win over his younger compatriot Sony Dwi Kuncoro in superb fashion to lift the Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) men's singles crown at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium (KLBA) in Cheras yesterday. The 23-year-old Taufik showcased his victory with stinging smashes, slicing chops and mesmerising netplay to dethrone Sony, the two-time winner of this tournament, 15-12, 7-15, 15-6 in a pulsating 70-minute final. Taufik, who had played second fiddle in the last two edition of the ABC, spoiled Indonesia's No.1 Sony's aspiration to become the first player to win the singles crown a third consecutive time. The strong performances of the Indon duo yesterday has surely given the Malaysian team an insight of what to expect ahead of the Thomas Cup Finals from May 7-16 in Jakarta. Malaysia may cross path with either the defending champions Indonesia or top seeds China in the quarter-finals. Taufik, who just started training a week ago after suffering a back injury during the Korean Open, was overjoyed. “The win was so important to me. I have never beaten Sony. I lost to him twice in the ABC and I also lost to him in the National Championships,” said Taufik, who was the ABC champion in 2000. “Initially, I was not down to play in the ABC. But I pleaded with the association to send me because I was ranked 24th in the world and there is a risk of missing the cut for the Olympic Games,” said the baby-faced Taufik, who is now certain to make the trip to the Games in Athens. With his performance yesterday, he is expected to leapfrog to 17th spot in the world ranking. Only the top 16 are automatic qualifiers for Athens. The rest of the 29-player field will be chosen according to allocation and the three-players-per-country ruling. Yesterday, Taufik attributed his success to the return of his personal coach Mulyo Handoyo. ”He is back (from Singapore) and has been coaching me since February. Under him, I do not feel the pressure of losing and I enjoy his coaching style,” said Taufik. A special arrangement has been made for Taufik, who had often court trouble with the All-Indonesia Badminton Association (PBSI), to train at the national centre. “I am the only one who train under Mulyo. Seven other singles players are under chief coach Joko Suprianto. Except for Wednesdays and Fridays, I train and spar with Mulyo and some other outsiders. On the other two days, I mingle and train with the national team,” said Taufik. On the Thomas Cup Finals, the two-time All-England runner-up Taufik excluded Malaysia when asked who would be Indonesia's main challengers. “China and South Korea will be the teams to watch out for. China have five top singles players who are all in the top 10 in the world. And their doubles players have improved too. South Korea still have formidable doubles players and this time, their singles players have improved. “But I will be out to win a point. Playing on home ground has advantages and disadvantages. The support will be great but there is the fear of a harsh reception if I do not win.” Taufik, however, said that his main priority this year was to win a medal at the Olympic Games. In the second all-Indonesian affair in the men’s doubles yesterday, Trikus Hariyanto-Sigit Budiarto emerged as the champions after a convincing 15-13, 15-5 win over Candra Wijaya-Halim Hariyanto. In the mixed doubles, South Korea’s formidable pair of Kim Dong-moon-Ra Kyung-min defeated Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thungthongkam 15-10, 17-16 to continue their amazing unbeaten run of 71 consecutive matches and 14th international title. Korea also enjoyed a double yesterday when Jun Jae-youn upset top seed and world number five Wang Chen of Hong Kong 11-9, 11-7 in the women’s singles final to win her first international title. Earlier on Saturday, the Korean pair of Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Kyung-won beat China’s Du Jing and Yu Yang 6-15, 15-11, 15-7 to win the women’s doubles title.
Mulyo must still be pretty good to spar with him. It must give joko motivation to train his players well when he knows taufik is training differently. If his players dont improve, then their will be a great amount of pressure on him. Taufik seems very self minded, he says "i hope I can get a point. Their will be a bad reception if I dont win" he seems isolated with the other players. I tihnk this is good for him though. It will make him feel special, and much happier. some people cannot cope with training with others, as they feel they do not get full recognition. others thrive from the competition between the group. taufik is, i believe, the former.
i think the bad reception will be from the crowd instead of the rest of the team. from very early on, Taufik has been very attached to Mulyo. there must be some synergy between them (or at least Taufik thinks so) that makes them work well together, be it the coaching method of Mulyo or just that Taufik is rejecting any other coaches he had. whatever it might be, it is important for Taufik himself to think that Mulyo is the best coach to train him, that will motivate him to focus on training from now on and can stop worrying about other distractions. this is definitely a good move for PBSI, PBSI knows that they only have two singles players to depend on for the TC and Olympics. they know that it is time to put their differences aside and let Taufik go his way.
However you look at it, Taufit is given special treatment/handling. Now, how would it look if every player in the Indonesian Thomas cup squad were to demand their own personal coach and such similar treatment or privilege? If Taufit loses a crucial Thomas cup match in the finals, assuming Indonesia enters the finals, he will be in real trouble as the crowd will turn against him with a vengeance, doubly so in view of his prima donna treatment. Is it "one country, two systems" or has Taufit become a separate country within a country?
His special treatment probably stems (partly) from the lack of singles talent generated by Indonesia in recent years. Compare with Maradonna or more recently Romario who bring a whole heap of problems with them and refuse to train with the rest of the players. The coach still has to pick these 'special' players simply because they are that much better than the rest. It might be a different story if Taufik was playing for China where the coaches have the luxury of chosing 4 or even 5 of the worlds top ten but that is not the case. Would you pick him to play for China if you were head coach?
I think it would depend on the event and situation. If it was an individual event, I do not think anyone could afford to not field a player of his calibre. At his best, he IS the BEST. I do not think he is a team player as such tho...and would make others feel different, because of his preferential treatment by coaches. In China, although a Taufik would also get a lot of attention, I don't think he could stomach the discipline of the Chinese way. He certainly would not have the choice to be so choosy and picky. Spoilt or not, stars have to be nurtured and pampered, because they are stars, although some are more humble and modest than others...if not, then what is there to distinguish between characters? especially for the non playing folk.
