The Star Online > Sports Roslin will not vie for Thomas Cup spot if he fails in Thailand KUALA LUMPUR: Shuttler Mohd Roslin Hashim does not want to be in the team for the Thomas Cup qualifying round if he fails to reach the semi-finals of the Thailand Open, which begins in Bangkok on Wednesday. Malaysia will have four singles players in a 10-man team for the qualifiers, which will be played at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium from Feb 17-22. National number one Wong Choong Hann and national Grand Prix Finals champion Lee Chong Wei are assured of places in the team. And the remaining two places will be fought out among Lee Tsuen Seng, Yeoh Kay Bin, Kuan Beng Hong, Roslin and his younger brother, Hafiz. “It is an honour to play for Malaysia in a team event. The qualifiers also offer qualifying points for the Olympics. But having said these, I do not want to be considered for a place in the team if I fail to reach the semi-finals in the Thai Open,” said the 28-year-old Roslin. “It will show that I am not ready for the task (in the Thomas Cup qualifiers).” Currently, Roslin is the second highest ranked Malaysian in the world ranking. He is in 16th spot while Choong Hann is ranked at number five. Hafiz and Chong Wei are ranked 18th and 20th respectively. The Thai Open is the season opening tournament on the international circuit. Besides Roslin, Chong Wei, Tsuen Seng, Kay Bin and Beng Hong, the other Malaysians in the fray are K. Yogendran, Mohd Hazwan Jamaluddin, Tan Zhao Rong, Azrihanif Azahar and Lim Kenn. “I am hoping for a good start to the year. The selection of the team for the Thomas Cup qualifiers will be based on the performances in the Thai Open and I will give my best,” sad Roslin. The doubles pairs for the team have been selected. They are Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Koo Kien Keat-Gan Teik Chai and Chang Kim Wai-Chew Choon Eng.
i wonder if he will keep his words. surely he will be a good candidate for the TC team with his experience and the lack of performance from the younger players. too bad i think Roslin is starting to lose his touch despite a good run a couple of years ago.
But can we say Roslin is not a great team player? I still remember the year when he was briefly ranked as world #1 in Men's singles, he choose to skip the Surdiman Cup so that he can focus on the World Championship. This move didn't pay off at all. Being the #1 seed at the World Champion, he lost to Tam Kai Chuen in the 2nd round.
Despite getting fair attention from BAM and his coach, Roslin has been a flop for numerous team championships. Latest failures include SEA Games 2003 (lost to Simon Santoso), TC2002 (lost to Hendrawan in decisive 3rd singles) and SEA Games 2001 (lost to Hendrawan in 1st singles; however Malaysia was lucky enough to clinch the gold by winning the last 3 matches). In terms of team spirit, my preference in Malaysian team is Lee TS (apart from the proven Wong CH). Though he had a miseable year in 2003, I think he can still be counted upon in team events.
Roslin wants to be in now!! Now look at the below twist of event.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Star Online > Sports Monday January 26, 2004 Don’t count me out yet, says Roslin BY RAJES PAUL PETALING JAYA: Mohd Roslin Hashim has not ruled himself out of the national team for the Thomas Cup qualifying round although he has failed to meet his target of at least reaching the Thailand Open semi-finals. The 28-year-old Roslin had said that national singles coach Misbun Sidek could leave him out of the qualifiers if he failed to reach the last four of the Thailand Open. This was after Misbun had announced that he would use the Thailand Open as a yardstick to name his four-member team for the Thomas Cup qualifiers. And now that he has crashed out in the third round of the Thailand Open, Roslin has backtracked, saying that he is back in the fight as the other men’s singles shuttlers also fared no better than him at the two-star tournament, which ended yesterday. “I would have kept my word and ruled myself out. But the other players also did not produce any outstanding results either. Now, I leave it to the coach to name the best players for the Asian Zone qualifiers,” said Roslin. With Wong Choong Hann and Lee Chong Wei almost assured of their places, Roslin, and a few others – Lee Tsuen Seng, Yeoh Kay Bin, Kuan Beng Hong and Mohd Hafiz Hashim – are all fighting to fill up the two remaining berths. Except for Hafiz and Choong Hann, all the others competed in the Thailand Open. Roslin went down 15-13, 11-15, 13-15 to Indonesia’s Simon Santoso. Tsuen Seng was beaten by Germany’s Bjoern Joppien in the first round while Kay Bin and Beng Hong lost tamely to Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand and Simon respectively in the second round. Said Roslin: “I lost to Simon for the second time (Roslin also lost to the youngster at the Vietnam SEA Games last month). But this time, the match was close. If not for my poor finishing, the outcome would have been different. “I am looking forward to playing in the qualifiers. But if the coaches decide to field the youngsters, I will have no problem with it,” added Roslin, who will join the other men’s singles players for a three-day camp at Port Dickson starting tomorrow. Misbun will decide on his four-member men’s singles team after the camp. The BA of Malaysia (BAM) are expected to announce their squads for the Uber-Thomas Cup qualifiers on Feb 2. The qualifiers will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium from Feb 17-22.
Re: Roslin wants to be in now!! More News Wednesday, January 28, 2004 (from Star online > Sports): Hafiz eyes Thomas Cup spot after lengthy layoff BY AFTAR SINGH KUALA LUMPUR: All-England champion Mohd Hafiz Hashim is back in full-time training after recovering from a wrist injury suffered in the Hong Kong Open last October – and the lanky shuttler is now in the dogfight for a place in the Thomas Cup qualifiers. The 22-year-old Hafiz underwent a medical check-up at the National Sports Institute (NSI) yesterday and unit director Dr Ramlan Aziz has given clearance to him to start full-time training yesterday. “Hafiz has fully recovered from the wrist injury and is able to start training with the national team. However, he will have to build the strength in his wrist. FULLY FIT: National shuttler Mohd Hafiz Hashim will be eager to make the cut for the Thomas Cup squad after being out of action for three months. “Medically, he is fit to play but it (the selection) will depend on his performance which will be decided by his coach (Misbun Sidek),'' said Ramlan. Hafiz, who has been out of action for three months, is eager to make the cut for the Thomas Cup qualifier. Four singles players will be named for the qualifier. Two players - national number one Wong Choong Hann and national GP Finals champion Lee Chong Wei – are certain to be in the team. That leaves two places to be fought out among Lee Tsuen Seng, Yeoh Kay Bin, Kuan Beng Hong, Hafiz and his brother, Roslin. The team will be named on Friday. “I have fully recovered and really want to see action in the qualifier. I have been training with the Nusa Mahsuri club for few days now,'' said Hafiz, who started last season with a bang by winning the All-England title last March. However, it has been all downhill since then for the youngster and his season ended with the injury in Hong Kong during a third round match against China's Lin Dan. The injury kept him out of the Vietnam SEA Games last month. Misbun, meanwhile, has put the Kelantan-born player under a special recovery programme. Hafiz, who is now ranked 20th in the world, is now training under Rahman Sidek at the Nusa Mahsuri club in Kelana Jaya. Misbun has been monitoring Hafiz's progress in training and the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games gold medallist may just find a place in the qualifier tournament. The national singles players are currently in Port Dickson for a three-day camp to prepare themselves mentally for the Thomas Cup qualifiers at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium in Cheras from Feb 17-22. The players will return to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) training and coaching committee, led by president Datuk Nazmi Mohd Salleh, will meet to name the final squad on Friday. The doubles line-up is, however, confirmed. National doubles coach Yap Kim Hock has decided to include national GP Finals champions Koo Kien Keat-Gan Teik Chai in the side together with the senior pairs of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chang Kim Wai-Chew Choon Eng.
Is it me or do the Malaysian players and coaches make more predictions and ultimatums in the media than any of the other countries? Any success is blown out of proportion and likewise any set back. Coaches and players build up the pressure prior to big events and invariably the players seem to then underperform when it comes to the event.
This is maybe the case but I think it might well be same thing in most asian countries, the difference being that malaysian medias are in english, so these are the ones we (occidentals) hear about...
English medias probably don't even ask them for any comments anyway! Look at football players and coaches, they always give comments about the matches. This is mainly a matter of mediatisation of the sport I think.
I might be wrong though... we need the help of a chinese speaking person for example, so he can tell us how medias interact with players/coaches about their results in China.
He's not going to the TC then. Still, somehow, somewhere, there's a major chance that he would suddenly be part of the team by some reasons that we will only be able to speculate. Never say never, this is Badminton Malaysia...
Hmm, I think you should look further back and see Roslin's TC record. If I remember correctly, he did not lose a single match in 1998 TC finals. In 2000, I do not recall his record accurately but I think he fared no worse than other people.
