NST Online: Sports
NST Online: Sports |
| Badminton / World Championships: Chong Wei bows to Lin Dan again Posted: 14 Aug 2011 05:41 PM PDT 2011/08/15 HIS apology to Malaysia was from the heart but Lee Chong Wei vowed to not only go for gold in the London Olympics next year but also make one more assault on the World Championships in 2013 before hanging up his racquet. The disappointment that he must have been nursing was well masked but there were times during the press conference that Chong Wei looked like he would break down -- as he did during the medal presentation -- but there was also a steely resolve visible. Having settled for second place for a third time after also losing to Lin Dan in the 2008 Olympics and last year's Asian Games, Chong Wei could have been forgiven for thinking that he is just not destined to win a major.
"I apologise to Malaysia for I know that the whole country was behind me. I tried my best but it was not to be and I hope that they will forgive me," said Chong Wei, who needed medical treatment for cramps and nausea after the 86-minute final. It was a final that had everything as momentum swung from end to end but when it came to the crucial moments, it was Lin Dan who was the better.
"He was willing to take risks and that was the difference as I tried to play safe. He is a great player but what makes me happy, despite the defeat, is that I have narrowed the gap with him and this can only mean good for me," said the World No 1. The ranking, though, would stand for nothing if Chong Wei doesn't land a major before retiring and the 29-year-old said this is exactly what he plans to do.
The World Championships will not be contested next year but Chong Wei said he will immediately start preparing for the Olympics, which are in less than a year's time. "I will need help from all quarters, especially as we can be sure that China will unleash all their players from now on. I don't only have to worry about Lin Dan but also Chen Jin, Chen Long and Du Pengyu. There are also the rest of the nations to worry about and my programme must cater for all these." On current form, it does seem like Lin Dan is the only player capable of stopping Chong Wei from winning Olympic gold but the Malaysian said he had been boosted by his performance yesterday. "Lin Dan won the title and was the better player during the crucial moments but I was not too far behind. Nothing much separates us and victory is always going to go to the player who performs better on matchday. "I had my chances but didn't take them while he did but this is not the end for I will continue trying to deliver what Malaysia wants." RESULTS All FINALS :— Men's singles: Lin Dan (Chn) bt Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 20-22, 21-14, 23-21. Doubles: Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (Chn) bt Ko Sung Hyun-Yoo Yeon Seong (Kor) 24-22 21-16. Women's singles: Wang Yihan (Chn) bt Cheng Shao Chieh (Tai) 21-15, 21-10. Doubles: Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) 22-20, 21-11. Mixed doubles: Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (Chi) bt Chris Adcock (Eng)-Imogen Bankier (Sco) 21-15, 21-7 Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Badminton: The narrow line that separates them Posted: 14 Aug 2011 05:30 PM PDT 2011/08/15 Taufik Hidayat suffered a defeat at the hands of Singaporean Derek Wong. The nearest hotspot of youthful thuggery was in Enfield and the only sign of potential trouble yesterday was when the shops closed early at 3pm and the local Curry's electronics outlet proactively boarded up its front entrance. I found it quite amusing to read of Beijing's castigation of London's authorities, casting aspersions towards security for next year's Olympics. Perhaps Beijing would like to offer its expertise and experience in dealing with the masses at such a supreme sports event?
What makes a difference this year is that Chong Wei is finally injury-free after such a long time with a run of three injuries in succession that took an inordinately long-time to clear up, with such a busy schedule affording inadequate time for complete recovery. Credit must go to BAM for complying with our request to curtail the number of matches in his competition schedule since last year.
Taufik Hidayat had also just suffered a defeat at the hands of Singaporean Derek Wong, and so did Marc Zwiebler of Germany against Spaniard Pablo Abian. What this underscores, though, is how narrow the line is that separates the top players from the rest; a line that grows even thinner if one is troubled by an injury that, whilst not severe enough to exclude one's participation, it would still wreak havoc on one's well-laid plans.
As one cannot really be too forthcoming about an injury niggle for obvious reasons, outwardly when a defeat comes the picture is one of "mental weakness". It's never as simple as that. Many armchair critics would be quick to make such a diagnosis, not really aware of a whole-host of factors that contribute to defeat, which also includes not understanding and playing to one's strengths. The one-week training stint at the University of Bath in Somerset, UK was planned to bring out the best of the players involved, with none of the sort of distractions that may hamper preparations. It is not merely an exercise in environmental acclimatisation. The main reasons are several folds; firstly to address the seven-hour time difference that requires being in the UK one day for each hour of time difference. Thus being at the Sports Training Village (STV) at Bath University affords a physical and physiological opportunity to get properly settled in and sorted out. Time and again, athletes would fly in just days before such a big event and suffer an unexpected defeat in the early rounds. Other countries from far-off shores are doing the same; we'd heard that four Indonesian players were preparing in Belfast for a similar duration and the Singaporean players were training with their English counterparts in Milton Keynes. The STV's superb training halls and conditioning centre provide continuity in the conditioning work, which necessarily tails down but there's still some quality work to be done. The pre-competition phase would see our players having a longer duration to work on maintaining their fine skills and work on technical concerns with two sessions a day lasting two to three hours each. This gives our coaches ample time to glean the sort of stability and accuracy, and forge tactics and strategies, especially using the video technology that ISN provides. Previously, moving to the competition site straight away doesn't afford too much time to do this and court time would be very limited, especially at the competition venue. Being far away from the hurly-burly would also give athletes a sense of peace and stability and freedom from so many distractions. Last year, our top men's pair of Koo and Tan benefited and went all the way to the final and this year, Chong Wei, who had missed the stint last year, voiced his delight with the place and seeks to spend a longer period ahead of the Olympics next year. This concept of a forward training base will not only benefit our athletes ahead of the London Olympics 2012 and Scotland Commonwealth Games in 2014 but can also be a cost-effective way for athletes, especially our young up and coming ones. They can be exposed overseas for a longer period, as very often they spend a couple of weeks and often end up feeling like sports tourists. It takes at least four to five weeks for a place to feel like home and they can periodically take advantage of cheap rail travel within that period to play against challenging opponents in Europe. In the process, they will master travelling skills, develop self-dependence and confidence. "Jaguh Kampung" no more... Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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