1. Indonesia lost because Taufik was not fit --- he thought he could 'wing it' with his skills but we know now he could not. 2. Hafiz and Beng Hong --- definitely not fit ENOUGH to win against the Danes. Their fitness told on them : hafiz gave up on the 2nd game and struggled in the 3rd, and Beng Hong struggled in the 1st and 2nd (his smashes turned into rallies coz he was a spent force). 3. The Chinese were overpowering with their physcial fitness --- they smashed and they smashed (it was like they have been thru a tough physical course). Bao Chun Lai and Lin Dan showed the world how fit they were despite initial thoughts that Lin Dan was not fit. The Chinese (and the Danes) would continue to dominate if the rest of the world do not wake up to this new physical fitness regime. In this sport, we must start looking at hiring physical fitness trainers and not just coaches. If we leave Misbun to train Hafiz and Beng Hong to be fit, we are letting two very talented players to be mediocre. Li Mao, at least stresses physical fitness ( we must have trainers who know how to get the players to peak fitness as well as monitor/manage players' health, e.g. their diets, heartbeats, training schedules, etc.). With a sport like Badminton, we must get real if we want to compete at the highest level. We cannot apply the old techniques of getting fit anymore -- we must use sports science to get our badminton players to their best fitness.
Agree 100%....I wish Mal coaches, especially Misbun, understand this point you are trying to make. Skills are essential but Mal is not the only one who can master it, others can too. The next level of competition is physical fitness.
Notice that Misbun took Hafiz and Beng Hong into his 'private care' in Kelana Jaya. He personally took them to train them and he said that it would be a better idea and Yap Kim Hock gave him the benefit of an adult. But sadly, those that Misbun took failed to deliver for Malaysia. Hafiz isn't steady. Can't really blame Beng Hong coz it's one of his first apperance in such a big tournament. Plus he's also inexperienced. But Hafiz... What a let down.
actually, i will be super amaze if you are telling me there is no fitness trainer for the whole Malaysian Team.
I am sure BAM knows what it takes to produce a world class player but the question is how much they believe in enforcing them. For example, I heard one of the reasons China is able to consistently produce world class players is due to discipline. The training in China is like a military boot camp. I am not saying Mal players are not disciplined, but I think they need to do more so that each player can perform consistently in any types of atmosphere, not affected by his/her own mood or pressures.
I don't think it was physical fitness that won the Thomas Cup for China. China improved on their focus and concentration, and improved on their low error rate. Just look at Hafiz, for every point he won he gave away a point in unforced error. The Danes and the Chinese were tops in these very important areas. The key is focus, concentration, low error rate, and precision. Look at Bao CL's great comeback against Sony. It was a classic study in concentration and focus. Such a comeback is more challenging and exciting than the old system's comeback, because the former is a true fightback whereas the latter is more rules-assisted. This year's Thomas Cup final has seen the best badminton ever played. The quality, precision, and intensity were unlike any seen in past Thomas Cup matches. The umpires also ensured no more nonsence from the players who used to disrupt the free flow of the game in the past.
Totally disagree --- focus and concentration can only happen if you are not exhausted. Hafiz just could not focus in the 2nd game because he ran out of steam. In the 3rd game, he tried hard to focus but his body would not allow him.
It was in the Press that Lin Dan was not fit (after the slow start against the minnows in the earlier games) but LCW said he was not buying it --- LCW mentioned in the Press that it was a 'smoke screen'.
And I have to totall disagree here, mental and physical strength have a coralation, but do not coenside as strongly as your make it seem. Just because your body is tired does not mean your mind is, since if that was true then 50% of college students would flunk out. Mental training has to occur seperately and isn't as easily accesible as physical training because their is no set workout for it. This I beleive is where the Chinese and Danes have an advantage because their players are seasoned in the game to know their strength with coach's who know how to help the mental development.
I'm with LCW. No way the top player in the world is unfit. Could be LD's strategy or who knows, could be LD and his slow starts.
I think Most of Asian players are lack of discipline (yes I am generalizing here.) a couples years ago, one of IBF guy from Malysia, came to Bay area Junior champioship, he gave coaching clinics. During the Q/A session, he was asked about the difference between traing method used in Asia Vs Europe i.e Denmark. his answered was very simple "Quality" Not Quantity. He furthered explained that most of Malaysian player practise a lot, maybe to much compare to Denmark's,however their trainings are not WELL structured. so physical in itself will not you championship, most of these "professional" need to realize that their "professional" player, they need to think like a Project manager. be proactive, they should be told to practise. Peter Gade gets all his routine plan out before the game.. while I believe that most asian players are more skillfull than their European counterpart, but there a few things asians players defintely need to learn from European players.
I think physical fitness is only one of the important essentials for a world class player. Concentrating too much on this or any one aspect to the detriment of the other aspects will not work well. As every player is different, it is difficult to give a common remedy. It is therefore the task of a good coach to really know his player intimately, his strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, so as to help him improve. An over-all balanced approach would be preferred instead of a lop-sided one. This would include development in physical fitness, technical skills, physchological training (mental training, goal achievement, motivation, concentration, relaxation, etc), nutrition and perhaps some others. I'm very sure BAM is quite well-equipped to tackle all the different aspects. It is up to the player himself whether he wants to achieve what he sets out to do and work hard towards achieving success .
Comparing sport and studying is like comparing apple with oranges. If you are physically exhausted, you will find it hard to concentrate. It is proven that if you are not fit and your body is consuming much of the oxygen carried by your blood over a long period of time, then your brain will receive less oxygen as well. This will then lead to mental exhaustion. Here's my thought, if your body is working out at a rapid rate and is consuming so much oxygen that what you're pulling in with your lungs is not enough, then you will begin experiencing this physical fatigueness and it will cause you to be mentally fatigued as well if it continues to be so for a long period of time. What this means to the Malaysian players that were quoted as being physically unfit, is that their Maximum Volume of O2 intake has not been trained to be at the level where it ought to be given their current speed of play.
hi taneepak, just wondering, what do you mean by "rules-assisted"??.. on this matter, i'm not old enough to judge or compare, but hmm, so does this mean, by what you are saying, that previous older generation players(ie. Liem Swie King, Rudy, ZhaoJH, Yang2) who played in those TC/UC editions didn't show the best badminton ever played?? And "the quality, precision, and intensity" in this year's TC/UC were much better than those shown in the older editions of TC/UC??..
Well said. I don't play badminton anymore but when I did, every time I got tired, I gave up. The mind becomes weak when the body is weak.
Totally agree that physical fitness is important to win TC. Indonesian has demonstrated that in the past and now China. It's too bad for Indonesian team since they now no longer has Tony, Rexy, Hendrawan who used to be the most fit as they are very self-disciplined. Taufik skipped too much training with injury as excuse. Sigit also injured and just recovered. Chandra/Sigit not playing as good as the other 2 doubles who practised more.
If MAS selected Lee Tsuan Seng, sure something reverse will happen. Lee Tsuan Seng really has better physical fitnass and fithing spirit compare to Hafiz and KBH.
If you have watched the TC 2006 players, most of them have the smashes and the plays these days. There are at least 20 players who can play very well but what separates them is the level of fitness - I would classify them in categories : 1) the fit (Lin Dan, P Gades, B Chun Lai, LCW, Kenneth), 2) the less fit (Hafiz, Taufik, Sony, Beng Kuan). U can almost tell Hafiz will not beat Lin Dan today but when he was fit (when he won the all-england), he could beat anyone.
