Folks, this JO looks like another disappointing showing from the MAS badminton team. Only one pair of MD made it to the finals. LCW lost big to TH, the match wasn't even close. If the same trend continues, Asian games doesn't look very good for the MAS team. MAS fans, what needs to be done to get a better tournament result?
Shouldn't we give LCW a break? Poor him.. Lost a match and receive all the critics from the media. A few weeks ago Yap Kim Hock said that LCW is under tremendous pressure currently and a bit down after the World Championship but the coaching committee will try to help him to ease himself a bit. Moreover, LCW said yesterday after he won against Boonsak that he still feels tired after playing against Andrew Smith and couldn't find his rhythm during the first game against Boonsak. So , i think he has overworked himself. He has improved a lot this year and we can't expect him to become invincible all the time. We should be happy that we have a player like him and i am afraid that if we keep pressuring him like this, we might kill his potential and his passion with our own 'mouths and words'. Give him more time to grow up. He still has rooms to improve. I think it is unneccessary to pressure our players to win a gold medal in Doha. Let them concentrate in their games and play their games without pressure. Maybe we should set up a training centre overseas so that our players can train without listening, reading the news and always being asked by the media when are they going to win. Look at Nicol David. She just enjoys her game without thinking much of winning and with that she can concentrate and give all her best during her match.
totally agree with u...media is always hope for too much..some times i think it might be a good idea that if LCW isnt in the rank no.1 so that he can freely play with his own pace... i mean ya he should have be prepared to under come huge pressure and high expectation from the country but still he's a human.. too much of pressure do not make him any better though...at least he made through to SF... and im proud with M'sian MD... they are giving us something joyful to watch in JO finals..regardless of the result...they are a new pair that have to be given attention from now onwards..
You don't have to go all the way to the final to have performed well imo. And the fact that the MD pair have made it to the final should be enough to please the Malaysian people. You can't expect these players to win all the time or always reach the finals. LCW made it to the SF and I certainly don't see that as a "bad" result. I agree with Malaysianfan, putting pressure on the team with a gold medal expectation (how I see it) is not the way to go. Just let them play their game and if they win a gold then that's something to celebrate, rather than to get all down if they don't.
M'sianfan.. i'm totally agree wif u.. now i finally understand y dey lose so easily.. all bcoz of pressure.. to pay some expectation on player is not a bad thing..but try not to be over.. dis will cause a lot of pressure to them.. n i do not agree wif wat da NCS[national sports council] of MAS.. dey should not said wat last chance la.. totally disappoint la.. wat r dey doin at madrid la.. there's owiz a phrase stated "u can bring da horse to water but u cannot force da horse to drink it" ya..although BAM had used more den half a million for da expences in tournaments.. but try to think.. other country's currency is higher.. n need training expences.. food.. wat else can do?? n there's owiz a win n loose in competition.. haih... hard to debate la.. have its positive n negative also..
Yes, I agree that media and fans are giving these players a lot of pressure. The whole country's eye is on their performance. But I think mental toughness is just as important as skills training. But Lin Dan is also under the same scrutiny. The Chinese fans and media are even more critical of their players. The media literally ripped Lin Dan apart last year in the WC 05' and Lin Dan made it to the finals. I say Lin Dan has tremendous mental toughness, he is so mentally tough that he became arrogant, and sometimes, having that arrogance will make a difference in a highly competitive world that we live in. Look at all the great sport champions, Tiger Woods, Pete Sampras, Shaq, Kobe, etc, they all have this arrogance in them. My point is, yes, these players are under tremendous pressure, but so are their opponents.
Yap, a difficult debate issue. But i find the comments from the ex-President of NSC interesting. He said that NSC shouldn't blame BAM alone for the defeat as it is NSC who plans and provides all the experts, training programms, facilities and grassroot programm.So it is unfair to blame BAM alone. According to him, blaming oneside after losing and 'sharing' glorious after winning isn't a good culture. He said every parts will try to get the compliments when the players win. LCW said early this year before that he will try to emulate Nicol David and try to enjoy his game without thinking much. But i guess it is just too difficult for him. Both are under different situations.
Yap, i agree that the players need to know how to handle the pressure. LCW is not matured enough yet. Give him more time. On the other side, Lin Dan still has some teammates who can share the burden. But LCW is alone now. I think that the intensity of pressure is different.I really respect Taufik for being able to stand up for Indonesia all by himself. But remember, Taufik is a very experienced player already. LCW still needs to improve to become an all-rounded player. No doubt he has great skills, but he still can improve them esp his net play and his power of smashing.
Hehe.. You are right. I expect something from the players too but i won't give them harsh comments if i know that they work hard and improve. Just some 'lazy' players will receive my harsh comments.
Yes, agree with you that LCW is not a very matured player yet, he needs some more time to develop. Toufik belongs to an entire new class by himself, he can care less on what other people say about him, he plays when he feels like it, he will walk out of the court if he doesn't feel like playing. Toufik's arrogance is a notch higher than Lin Dan's, when Toufik is playing, he doesn't have too much emotion, its like his opponent is not even there. No matter if Toufik win or loose, he just calmly shakes his opponent's hand (except for the olympic win, in which he cried out of joy) and walks out of the court.
less criticism I agree with most of the responses. What's needed is for the fans (esp in here!) to be more intelligent, more mature and more considerate. Just try to enjoy the skills displayed by the many wonderfully talented players of different nations. Perhaps, it would help if one refraings from asking questions like what happened to malaysian players, what should malaysia do, etc. each time LCW or our doubles don't make it into the finals. In a game like badminton and esp with the new scoring system, matches can swing either way quite easily. While we all do usually support our country's players, we should also accept it when they lose and just hope that they do better in the future. Leave the planning and coaching to the coaches!
malaysian main problem im my opinion,the main problem for malaysian badminton n other sport is lack of good player.we can produce only LCW alone,but in fact there are no other single player as good as him.yes for sure,malaysia is smaller country than china n indonesia,but cant take this as an excuse.For me,if can produce 2 single player as good as LCW,so he can get little pressure.Malaysian fan give him a lot of responsibilty.this is an old problem.malaysia just can have 1 good player in one time.n for LCW,the only thing he can do is improve his mental strength.when mental is good,he can play as usual without complacent.come on BAM,pls do something.
Yap Kim Hock realizes this and will try to upgrade some junior players into the national team. He is actually a good head coach with ideas and good views for the future and it will be a pity if he needs to resign if we failed to contribute a gold in Doha later.
Right now the most promising results are in MD, where MAS have lots of potential world-beating pairs. All they need is mental strength and exposure. MS is like u guys said, only 1 world-beating player per era, and this had been going on since Misbun Sidek's time, up to Wong Choon Han, and now LCW. Hafiz played quite well in Japan, but there is a gulf in ability between him and LCW. This is where the BJSS is supposed to take up the slack and produce many young world class potentials. We will see.
i think the criticism of LCW is unfair in this instance. i think any of the top players will find it hard to beat taufik when he's serious, and he seems to be pretty serious this time around. also, with KKK/TBH in the finals, and GTC/AL losing to CY/FHF (who have been outstanding this year) is not disgrace. Hafiz lost to LD, whom nobody's been able to beat consistently this year. i'm only slightly dissapointed in Roslin, i expected him to do better against Boonsak. but on the whole, i can't say anyone had a poor tournament, on the men's side at least ...
After seeing all of your post,the conclusion is if we are not able to do like what the player do or achieve,we better don't critism them...LCW has done a lot for Mas and make Mas proud....I believe that he will definitely play well if he is given some time...Sometime pressure can make us growth but too much of pressure will make us gone crazy...
Lee Chong Wei has a very heavy burden to deliver for malaysia and there is no other player who can share his burden at the moment. Its about time for the BAM to look at the potential players from the Rashid's group and starts to groom them for world class beater. We must always look forward. if the young one is not given a chance for exposure , the game will mature much later or never. There are alot of good players at the BJSS too. Good Coach and high quality programme to nurture these youngster is important. It is important that greater attention should be given to these young player so that there is a good successor line will be created just like China who have Chen Jin and Chen Yu while in the women side they have Zhu Lin and Lu Lan and downline they have Wang Yihan and Wang Lin. Its is not good for the country to be over dependant on one player. We only have good downline for doubles but for the singles we only have Lee Chong Wei in the mens while Wong Mew Choo in the womens.
