Catch my post-game analysis of the French Open: The Badminton Blog - French Open Post Tournament Analysis
Nevertheless, Msia is lucky to hv them. Its not easy for the oldies to play at such high lvl. We're considered lucky to hv at least 2 top MD pairs, unlike other countries.
MAS seems to have the track record of producing Mr. Runner-up. Whom I can recall are Foo Kok Keong and Sidek bros. There seems to be one more Mr. Runner-up pair in making ... JJS/LYD two titles - Thailand Open'06 & Kor SS'07 four runners-up: Taipei Open'06, German Open'07, Thailand Open'07, WC'07 Well, I meant they are potential Mr. Runner-up but it's too early to tell that whether being RU will become their long-term career pattern. CY is another potential Mr. Runner-up. one title - Thailand Open'06 six runners-up - SO'03, DO'03, World Cup'06, DO'06, German Open'07, AE'07 And Boonsak ... one title - SIN SS'07 nine runners-up - SEA Games'01, HKO'01, Thailand Open'01, Thailand Open'03, HKO'03, IO'05, World Cup'05, ABC'06, Thailand Open'07
cos they are related........and very hard to call them if they all have the same name. "ah lai, come here pls......" lai [wan wah] : yes, coming........ lai [tan fook] : yes, coming........ lai [real ah lai] : yes, coming too........
Easy, then it'll be "Ah Fook" and "Ah Wah". Anyway, to be fair to CTF/LWW - being Mr Runner-Up is better than "Mr Yoyo" or "Mr Quater Final or Mr Semi Final". At their age, they are doing better than the other 4 Malaysian MD pair(TBS,OngSH, Zakry,Fairuz, GanTC, LinWF,HoonTH) these players (except for soon retiring CCM) are 7-8 years younger.
Yup, I remember that match, the service judge was faulting them like nobody business, and at that time, the INA pair was owning Cai/Fu ..... Anyway, Cai was playing inspired, much like Koo Kien Kiat the previous week. As we can see, the aged MAS pair's defence were not as good as usual. In fact, this year I would say their best form was during S'pore Open Final (which they lost to Cai/Fu too). With that kind of form, they would have won World Championships. Sigh, what can I say, MAS sportsmen (other than Nicol David, and she's a woman) are nearly men .........
Although they lost tamely but I'm still giving credit to them. At their age they are still around in such a competitive arena, they still have what it takes on them.Salute them.
The same story, why? They always fail in the last hurdle despite playing so well in the previous matches. Sigh...
I thought they played better at WC when they beat Fu/Cai. Spore Open was their best form in a final this year. And TQ, the Malaysian sportswomen outshine the men in certain sports - squash, bowling are the ones winning consistently.
Nah, I've seen both matches live, in S'pore Choong/Lee really owned Fu/Cai until their stamina let them down .... partly due to their own fault, the game was running at very fast pace and the old guys were doing too much smashing instead of using more flat drives and defence. In Malaysia, it was Fu/Cai who were owning them, but a desperate change of tactics at the last moment saw them come from 16-19 down to 21-19 in 3rd game. Choong/Lee tried the same thing in Sunday's final but only got so far as 19-20 before losing the match. But it was still a decent performance, as mentioned by other forummers, the other younger pairs should have stepped up and taken over the supporting role for Koo/Tan.
Singapore Open is unbelievable. CY/FHF almost lost their confidence and fighting spirit. There seemed to be no hope for them to win. Of course, things changed at 7:15 in the 3rd game.
Do you wonder why Kido always get called for a service fault? Because it is obvious to any service judge that he is serving close to his chest level... if you don't believe me, just watch matches where they show a slow motion of Kido's serve... it is more ridiculous than most players(except Candra who is just as bad with his serve).
