Yong Hock Kin today convincingly defeated Wong Choong Hann 15-9 15-5 in the 2nd round of the All England. With this win, he has placed himself in Choong Hann's RELATIVELY easy path to the Semi Finals. Yong has been very silent for the past few months, and does not speak very much with the press. All details we get are from Misbun, his temp coach, and that is also a trickle. However, Misbun did mention that Yong was "on fire" in training before the squad left KL. Hock Kin is a rare talent in Malaysia, where the strokes of Choong Hann and Hafiz are rigorously trained to perfection, it comes naturally to Hock Kin. His style of play is smooth and flowing, and if you see him in his rhythm, he is near unbeatable. Not even Poul Erik at his best could beat him if I remember correctly, and that by itself amounts to something. However, as with many cases, talent is also followed closely by temperamental behaviour. He seems to be the only player who could not get along with Indra, whereas the rest of the players are happy. That might suggest that Hock Kin is very different, and does not adhere to the norm. What that means is a mystery to me, as he is the one player in the Malaysian squad that issues the most question marks. Nevertheless, I hope his brilliance will shine through finally this time, and not just be another flash in the pan.
If Yong can win the All-England, he will have made a huge step in establishing his brilliance (the last Malaysian to win the All-England singles title is Tan Aik Huang), otherwise, he will be forgotten very quickly. Since Yong and Wong train together, they understand each other's style, but Yong may find it difficult with other players. I have never seen either Yong or Wong play, live or on tape, but what I have read suggest that Yong is a stroke player and Wong is a smasher. Yong should be able to get though the next round if he plays at his current form (even though Hidetaka Yamada is the 15th seed), but will then face either Anders Boesen or another Malaysian Hafiz and Hafiz will know Yong's style of play. Hafiz is also a stoke player. If Yong makes it past that round, he will most likely have to play a Chinese to make it into the final. We will see whether Yong can go all the way. Ron
Ron! He's got a few rounds to go to even get to the final! Do you think you might be assuming too much at this stage? After all, Yong's best match was some years ago in the Indonesian Open (winning) and WGPF s/finals (losing to Sun Jun). I saw Yong in the China Open against Chen Hong. He played a very good 1st game making one of his 'die hard' comebacks. If he's playing at that standard consistently (you should have seen his amazing defence), it will be very entertaining against the attack orientated chinese players. (providing he gets to that stage).
Cheung, I am not assuming too much but am responding to whether his brilliance will shine through and not be just another flash in the pan. To establish brilliance in Malaysia, he has to win the All-England. After all, several Malaysians have made it to the finals since Tan Aik Haung won it in 1966; the list of Malaysian finalists in the All-England after Tan Aik Huang won it include Tan Aik Huang, Punch Gunalan, Misbun Sidek, Foo Kok Keong, Rashid Sidek, and Ong Ewe Hock. With such a high expectation, only winning the All-England can Yong earn his place as a Malaysian badminton great. We will see whether he can do it or be just a flash in the pan. Ron
Yong may not need to play a Chinese if he gets that far. Xia Xuanze will have a very tough 3rd round match against Lee Hyun-ill, chances are he may not survive. Lee is no pushover...
I said that the semi-finalist from the bottom group will most likely have to play a Chinese in the semi-finals, but not necessarily Xia. In the third semi-final group, Xia (3rd seed) will play Lee and the odds are with Xia. Chen Yu will play Aamir and the Chen Yu is the favorite. It is highly likely that one and possibly 2 Chinese will make it into the quarter final in that bracket. From that grouping, I doubt Aamir can make it into the semi-finals. Lee has a chance but will have to beat both Xia and the winner of the Chen Yu/Aamir match. It is most likely that a Chinese, either Xia or Chen Yu will be the semi-finalist from that bracket. Whether Yong can get to the semi-finals is open to question, but there is a decent chance of a Malaysian making it to that semi-finals as there are 2 Malaysians left in the bottom semi-final group: Hafiz and Yong. It is all probabilty . Ron
Yong Hock Kin literally destroyed Hidetaka Yamada, only allowing hime 5 points in total. The other matches were much closer, especially the one between Lee TS and Marleve. Alos Xia and Lee HI was close.
If Yong wins the next match, he will have to play a Chinese as both Chen Yu and Xia are through their 3rd round matches. In the quarter-finals, who will Yong prefer, Hafiz or Anders? Anders is the higher ranked player, but Hafiz will know Yong's style better. But then Yong may have beaten Hafiz in recent practice matches and have a psychological edge (he may have had that edge against Choong Hann). We will see if Yong Hock Kin can demonstrate true brilliance by winning the championship. He has won 3 matches and needs to win 3 more matches to win the title. The going will be getting rougher in the later rounds. Ron
Hafiz beat Yong 15-6, 15-10. No more brilliance but a good run nevertheless to make it to the quarter-finals. Now the question is, can both Hashim brothers make it to the finals to have an ALL-BROTHERS, ALL-MALAYSIAN, ALL-ENGLAND? That will be a first time for badminton in the modern era. Ron
Hi Wouldnt suprise me, both were playing VERY well yesterday, Hashim being the better one i feel with his match against Anders Boeson, great to watch. Matt
