NST Online: Sports
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| Badminton / World Championships: It's now or never, Chong Wei Posted: 07 Aug 2011 05:30 PM PDT 2011/08/08 WEMBLEY was a hive of activity yesterday but it was the Community Shield clash between Manchester rivals United and City, not the World Badminton Championships, which had fans spellbound. The English love their football and yesterday's 2011/12 curtain raiser was eagerly awaited, especially as the Manchester clubs are expected to battle it out for Premier League supremacy over the next nine months. Malaysian fans, given their affection for English football, will also eagerly watch the season unfold but for the next few days, it is the nearby Wembley Arena where they must focus on.
The burning question is can Lee Chong Wei end 34 years of pain for Malaysia by winning the singles gold or will doubles Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong step up and prove once and for all that they are worthy of the hype that always accompanies them into major tournaments. Of the two, it does seem that Malaysia's best bet, as is so often the case, is Chong Wei and the World No 1 certainly has the capability and, more importantly, the form to win Malaysia's first ever world title.
"His form over the last six months has been phenomenal. He has been playing extremely well and looks primed for a serious tilt at the title," said Christensen, 34. The problem is that this is not the first time Chong Wei has gone into the World Championships in peak form.
This could well be the reason why there have been attempts by the BA of Malaysia's coaching staff to downplay Chong Wei's chances but if the World No 1 needs one reason to win, it is because this could well be his last chance to not only end Malaysia's long wait but to do it in style by denying China's armada. Besides nemesis Lin Dan, China have their next generation of stars in London and, as luck would have it, Chong Wei has to beat them before setting up a probable title date with the one player who can claim to be better than the Malaysian. Denying that would be foolish for no player has done what Lin Dan has achieved but the run of every great player has to end at some point and this is Chong Wei's chance to, once and for all, end that of his great rival. Christensen had a point when he said Chong Wei has been phenomenal this year. What he didn't say was that Chong Wei also looks like a player at peace with himself. He doesn't sport the haunted look he used to have, speaks confidentially and, above all, spent the last week or so away from the distractions of Kuala Lumpur by training in Bath -- all of which point to a run which should take him into his first World Championships final. If Chong Wei makes it to Sunday's final, so will Lin Dan and it will give the Malaysian a chance to avenge his defeats to the China star in the only two title championships' finals they have met before -- the 2008 Beijing Olympics and last year's Asian Games. A win for Chong Wei and he can be sure that it will be the London Olympics and not the start of the English Premier League that Malaysians will be eagerly waiting for the same time next year. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Badminton / World Championships: BAM remains clueless on future stars Posted: 07 Aug 2011 05:25 PM PDT 2011/08/08 Danish veteran Peter Gade Christensen says China and Denmark have already started unleashing their future stars onto the world stage. The bad news is that no Malaysian features in the group of players Peter Gade Christensen reckons will be battling to dominate world badminton the way China's Lin Dan and Chong Wei have done for the last few years. Even worse, the veteran Dane said the BA of Malaysia -- despite having several talented players -- doesn't seem to have a clue on who to place its faith on to replace Chong Wei.
"Chong Wei may stick around for a bit longer after the Olympics while I don't know how long more Lin Dan will play. "However, I don't see any player dominating the game the way Lin Dan and Chong Wei have done over the last few years," said Christensen at the Wembley Arena yesterday.
"However, I have yet to really see a stand out player and this has convinced me that it will be a group of players fighting to dominate the game once the current big names quit." While that sounds good for the future, especially as China's current domination of the game is unhealthy, what was especially pertinent of Christensen's assessment was the absence of any Malaysian names as future world beaters.
The three-time Olympian had a point as despite the heavy investment, the various national training programmes are remembered more for the number of players who have dropped out rather than going on to excel. The fact that Wong Choong Hann is Malaysia's other representative at the World Championships is an indication of how serious the situation is. The same could be said of Christensen as he is of the same age as Choong Hann but the former World No 1 said what has kept him competitive is his desire to win the World Championship and Olympic titles. "This has kept me going but I know that my time is up. However, I know that Denmark has players coming through the ranks and they will be there challenging for honours when the time comes." The question is, can BAM confidently say the same? Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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