Birdievents.com

No one wants to be blamed for failure.  That is no exception to Malaysia National coach Tey Seu Bock.  He is rather mellow than aggressive when others are judging his works.  Under his supervision, there are Rashid Sidek and Hendrawan but they are still clueless on how to overcome Chen Long and Lin Dan specially from Lee Chong Wei worst nightmare.  Therefore, Tey Seu Bock will be cooperative, if he will be working "with" Misbun Sidek to obtain gold medal in Summer Olympics. 

Tey said the mission to win Malaysia's first gold medal at the London Olympic Games, which rests on the shoulder of the world number one singles, should be given priority without any hindrance to Chong Wei's preparation.

He said he has no problem working with Misbun even though the decision to get the service of Chong Wei's former coach would depend on the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).

"I am not particular about working with anybody including Misbun, as I have also cooperated with him before.

"But at the moment, Rashid and Hendrawan are assisting me in game analyses, tactical and so on. For me I have no problem, it is up to BAM," he told the media after a training session at Stadium Juara in Bukit Kiara, here Friday.

Tey said he has his own plans to raise the performance of the current All-England champion in view of the Olympics next year and was targeting to peak Chong Wei in three months.

"However, at the moment the training has not been stepped up as Chong Wei was busy with several meets since the Malaysia Open," he said.

Meanwhile, BAM general manager Kenny Goh said Chong Wei had not voiced his intention to the organization to recall Misbun.

"I think to be fair to Chong Wei, we also heard this statement only through the mass media, we have not heard it from Chong Wei personally.

"But I was made to understand that actually Chong Wei meant that he seeks tips and advice from Misbun on a personal basis," he said, adding that BAM has no plan to increase the number of coaches at the moment.

In other words, if Misbun is in, someone will have to go...

It started in Hong Kong then followed in China Opens, Datuk Lee Chong Wei was not the usual champion of badminton world anymore. He missed back to back finals of the prestige events and worst was the lost to Chen Long in the Super Series semi finals last week.

BAM scrambled to find the answers and rumors flew around if Datuk Lee Chong Wei would get a third coach to enhance Datuk's psychology barriers.  The strong contender for this coaching position is Morten Frost Hansen.

Morten had coached in Malaysia.  He knows the system and probably he will blend well with the staffs and BAM's culture.  Unfortunately, if the tasks of Morten is only on the psychology aspects of Chong Wei's games, it may not show any impacts.  The reason is Morten is not a doctor or a person with such deep knowledge of human mentality.  He is merely a retired badminton player with previously championship titles in the old era. The game in that time is different.  A player must have strong physical endurance which a simple match could last an hour or more.  Now, the game is different.  A simple serving mistake will cost a point.  When there are five points separation, the psychology impacts to the players is different, compare to old time because there is no assurance of stopping points accumulation to the opponents.  In addition,player is demanded to play with precision and tactical ability, instead of merely stamina and muscles.

The good news is the current threat of Chong Wei supremacy is only from two players - Lin Dan and Chen Long.  Also, whenever Chong Wei played these two players, they mostly have to play in 3 sets and especially with Chen Long, the winning points on the third set were not too far a part.  In other words, the chance is still 50-50.  The most concern is whenever Chong Wei plays to Lin Dan.

BAM honorary-secretary Ng Chin Chai said its coaches and the National Sports Institute were constantly playing "war games" in trying to get the upper-hand against the Chinese "soldiers".

"And just when Chong Wei improves on his shortcomings against the top Chinese players, they (Chinese) come out with new strategies to beat Chong Wei. It is a cat and mouse game," he told Bernama here Monday.

Well aware of the formidable challenges that lie ahead, Ng said BAM was formulating new strategies, as the ultimate objective of the "war" was for Chong Wei to bring back the men's singles gold from next year's London Olympics.

Malaysia are banking on him to win Malaysia's first ever gold medal in the Olympics.

"Though it will not be an easy task, we will not give up and do whatever it takes to help Chong Wei secure the Olympic gold," added Ng.

Assuming the result of this coming summer Olympics is worst than finals, who is to blame in BAM?

The top Malaysian pair is no longer in the top four of the world rankings.  In fact, they never won against Korean, Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong, in any super series events.  Does Malaysia have a second tier pair to back up this declining star?

Their waning status may be seen as a reflection of a taxing year for the Malaysian badminton aside from sudden disappointing results of Chong Wei.

As few would give them much hope of emerging champions in Liuzhou, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching and training committee chairman Ng Chin Chai stressed that the pair needed strong support to check the slide.

“They are no longer among the world’s top four pairs. They did not earn the right to be seeded for the Super Series Masters Finals after their ups and downs this year,” said Chin Chai.

“But I want Koo and Tan to take this as a challenge and prove that the seedings are not a true reflection of a player’s status.

“I hope they will do better than the seeded pairs.”

In yesterday’s seedings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), four pairs are rated higher than former World No. 1 Kien Keat-Boon Heong – China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng, South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung, Denmark’s Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen and another Korean pair, Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong.

The four seeded pairs will be divided into two groups. A draw on Dec 13 will determine Kien Keat-Boon Heong’s placing in the group.

As only the top two pairs will advance to the semi-finals, Kien Keat-Boon Heong will have to upstage at least one top combination to reach the top-four elimination round.

“We are giving Koo and Tan much support. They need it – especially now when they are trying to get back to the top.

“They must also play their part and be honest about their efforts to turn their game around.”

Despite the many challenges, Chin Chai said they were positive about rebuilding the pair’s confidence as they target a medal at next year’s London Olympics. Kien Keat-Boon Heong, however, did show some spunk despite losing for the sixth time to Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong in the China Open quarter-finals last week.

With all the doubles coaches – Tan Kim Her, Pang Cheh Chang and Yoo Yong-sung – working together, it won’t be too long before Kien Keat-Boon Heong end their long wait for a major title.

Their last major success was the 2010 Malaysian Open crown, though they deserve credit for reaching the finals of the World Championships (2010 in Paris), Asian Games in Guangzhou (2010) and the All-England (2011).

In the men’s singles, World No. 1 and top seed Lee Chong Wei’s bid to win the crown for the fourth time will be seriously challenged by two seeded players – Lin Dan and Chen Long of China.

The 29-year-old Chong Wei has lost twice to both Chen Long and Lin Dan in the last three months but if the Malaysian puts his mind to it, he may reconfirm his status as the king of the Super Series.

Kudos to Muhammad Hafiz Hashim. He is the only Malaysian single player who is still competing in this tournament.  He is able to win back to back against ranked opponents.  Yesterday, Hashim won of Tommy Sugiarto from Indonesia in straight set, 21-19 21-13.  This evening he showed his caliber again by beating Kennichi Tago, a raising star from Japan, also in straight set 21-14 and 21-19.  Unfortunately, the two other Malaysian pairs could not follow his path to the semi final stage.  The Malaysian women double pair, Vivien Hoo/ Khe Woon lost to Korean pair, Hye Eom/ Ye Jang 12-20 20-22.  The only Malaysian's hope in men double, Khalid/ Mawan also lost to Korean pair, Ko/Yoo in three sets, 6-21 22-24 14-21.

Taufik Hidayat, former world championed and the highest ranked player in this tournament, lost to the second tier player of Korea, Hyun Il Lee, 12-21 21-15 and 21-17.  This is the third lost of Taufik from Lee. Taufik only won once in 2001 World Championship.  However, Indonesia still has Simon Santoso who won of Kashyap Parupalli 21-19 21-10. In the semi final round, Simon will meet Du Pengyu (China) after Wang Zhengming retired in the second set.  Hashim will meet Hyun Il Lee.

In the men double events, there was Indonesia battle between Kido/ Setiawan against Chandra/ Gunawan.  The young pair prevailed with the score 18-21 21-14 21-18.   They will meet the event favorite, Koo/ Yoo in the semi final.  Another two pairs in the semi final are Fang/ Lee (Chinese Taipei) and Chai/ Guo (China).

Women single will feature three China players and one Chinese Taipei.  A raising star of China, Li Han, will play Shao Cheng (Chinese Taipei) in semi final after she the quarter final match against Xiao Chen in straight set 21-17 21-14.  The other two China pairs who will play in semi final are Wang Shixian and Li Xuerei.

Due to disappointing results on the last two events and preparing for 2012 Summer Olympic, Datuk Lee Chong Wei will play less tournaments in 2012.

According to BAM, the World No 1 badminton player was absent from the Macau Open due to physical and mental exhaustion.

This is the golden opportunity for Chong Wei to get the first gold for Malaysia in Olympics.  If he is not in prime condition and cannot deliver gold to the country, it will be tougher to wait the next four years to come back and be competitive.

Deputy president Datuk Dr Mohamed Al-Amin Abdul Majid, who spoke at the launch of the Maybank Malaysian Open Preparation yesterday, also said BAM would prepare a programme to keep Chong Wei fresh for the London challenge.  "Chong Wei is not getting any younger and for a player at this stage of his career, he needs proper rest and recovery to keep on performing well," said Al-Amin.  "His coaches will have to look into changing his program to one that will keep him in top shape for the Olympics, which may mean playing less tournaments."  Al-Amin, however, left no doubt that Chong Wei would be defending his title at the US$400,000 (RM1,275,000) Malaysian Open on Jan 10-15 at the Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil.

The Malaysian has won the last four editions of the Malaysian Open, beating Indonesian Taufik Hidayat in the final last year. "As his home event, it is important for him to play here as well as to defend his ranking points. We will look at reducing his tournaments after the Malaysian Open.  Al-Amin also praised  Maybank for its involvement in badminton, and cited the support as an important factor in producing a new Chong Wei.  Maybank replaces Proton as the title sponsor of the Malaysian Open after penning a  RM41m sponsorship deal spanning six years with BAM in July.

After finishing second and third in the last two editions, Malaysia finally claimed the top prize at the BWF World Junior Championships in Taipei on Sunday.

Led by the country’s top juniors Zulfadli Zulkifli and Sonia Cheah, Malaysia defeated South Korea 3-0 in the team final, to give them home of winning a few medals when the individual events begin on Monday.

Zulfadli, who claimed Malaysia’s National Juniors Grand Prix title in May, as well as the Asian Junior Championship crown in July, capped a remarkable year when he secured the opening point when he defeated Lee Hong Je Lee Hong-je 17-21, 21-11, 21-14.

Sonia, who played in her first Uber Cup last year, is now a regular in Malaysia’s national team, but has not had much success at home or abroad.

She, however, rose to the challenge and delivered Malaysia’s second point when she outplayed Kim Hyo Min 25-23, 21-12 to give her confidence a big boost ahead of the individual event as well as the SEA Games later this month.

The winning point was delivered by Nelson Heg Wei Keat-Teo Ee Yi, who edged Choi Sol Kyu-Jun Bong Chan 16-21, 21-18, 21-11. Nelson-Ee Yi, who were runners-up in the boys’ doubles competition last year, will hope to make it a grand double in the individual event later this week.

Last month, the concentration was on the men double squads.  Koo & Tan were prioritized to pump their mediocre performance.  Shifting and hiring new coaches were in horizon.  Yet, the results in Denmark Open 2011 was not reflecting the efforts.  In fact, they lost to secondary pair from South Korea, Gun Woo Cho & Ti Goo Kwon in 3 sets.

Now, it is the most unpredictable and embarrassing outcome.  Chen Long convincingly stopped Chong Wei back to back.  Even worst in Denmark Open 2011, Chen Long showed his superiority by winning the match in straight set.  Chen Long is just 22 while Chong Wei is 29 and despite the latter's superior skills and experience, Chong Wei will have to admit that he struggles against younger opponents.  Chen Long is physically stronger and has also learned well from compatriot Lin Dan on how to neutralize Chong Wei and thorough preparation is needed if he is to sink China's top players.

It didn't help that the BA of Malaysia (BAM) staged the National Grand Prix Finals on Oct 12-15 where Chong Wei secured a 10th national title but had to leave for Denmark that very night. He played his first match on Oct 19.

It is arguable that the field in the local event is too weak and Chong Wei had a stroll but he was also going through his training while the rest just competed in the GP Finals.

BAM's decision to stage the Kedah Open just 10 days before Chong Wei and the other national shuttlers traveled to Bath, England for a one-week training stint before the World Championships in London also left a lot to be desired. 

Chong Wei aggravated his back injury in Kedah and only resumed training two weeks later and, not surprisingly, he fell short in the World Championships final against Lin Dan.

National singles coach Tey Seu Bock had said that Chong Wei wasn't comfortable playing Chen Long who outplays his opponents through sheer physical strength rather than skill.

"Chong Wei is not comfortable playing Chen Long because he is physically very tough and a good retriever. His recovery is very good and manages to battle with Chong Wei rally after rally," said Seu Bock in a telephone interview from Odense yesterday.

"The best way to beat him (Chen Long) is to be well prepared and I would say he (Chong Wei) did not have much time after the Japan Open.

"The situation now is juggling between Olympic qualification and quality training. At the moment, he needs to collect Olympic points and at the end of the year, we have to put him through a longer period of quality training."

The coach added: "Chong Wei is an excellent shuttler but sometimes we forget that he is already 29 and it might take longer to recover from tough matches compared to players like Chen Long.

"Chen Long had a tough second round but received a walkover from Jan Jorgensen (of Denmark) and this was followed by an easy semi-final win, so he was fresh in the final."

Chong Wei will probably get about four weeks to prepare for the Korea Open (Jan 3-8) and Malaysia Open (Jan 10-15) and about six weeks before the All England in March. The break will be important for his build-up towards the Olympics.

Chong Wei should limit his tournaments after the All England and spend sufficient time on his Olympics preparation. 

There will be another opportunity for Chong Wei to avenge his defeat in the French Open where he is likely to play Chen Long in the last four in Paris on Saturday but the Malaysian must be prepared if his young rival has the upper hand again.

It is better to lose the battle but win the war against China in the London Olympics next year.

As for men's doubles Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, only time will tell if they can be transformed into a formidable pair again by new coach Pang Cheh Chang.

The bonus, however, will be on Kien Keat-Boon Heong who must play with confidence and work harder to regain their form.

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), after an exco meeting yesterday, announced that the 37-year-old Yong-sung will start work next month.

He will be tasked with assisting Pang Cheh Chang in preparing top men’s doubles pair Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong for next year’s London Olympics.

“The Koreans have very good work ethics and we hope he will be able to instil this in our players,” said BAM deputy president Datuk Dr Al-Amin Majid.

“Yong-sung has real playing experience at the top level, having won two Olympic silver medals (2000 and 2004). We hope that he’ll be able to pass this on to Kien Keat-Boon Heong.

“But we’re also aware that his appointment may not necessary produce the desired results. That’s why he will be on a six-month probation period. There is also a clause allowing us to parts ways if the results are not up to mark,” added Al-Amin.

Meanwhile, the BAM have also decided to issue a warning letter to mixed doubles specialist Chan Peng Soon for walking out of his men’s doubles match during the National Circuit GP Finals last Wednesday.

Peng Soon and Ong Jian Guo were trailing 15-21, 23-21, 15-20 against Cheah Like Hou-Chow Pak Chuu in a group match when he decided to stage a walk out. He said he was unhappy with the numerous bad calls made by the linesman. Peng Soon later apologised for his actions

The walkout resulted in the pair being thrown out of the tournament and they had to forfeit their prize money.

“We will issue a warning letter to him. We hope that he will not repeat it again. A player has to learn to accept the umpire’s decision even if it goes against him,” said Al-Amin.

YOO Yong Sung will not assume the responsibility of coaching Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong in their quest for Olympic gold. Instead the Korean will assist Pang Cheh Chang in guiding the pair.

This was confirmed by national doubles chief coach Tan Kim Her yesterday. Kien Keat-Boon Heong started training under Cheh Chang less than two weeks ago after a major shake-up by the BA of Malaysia (BAM).

Kim Her said Yong Sung's addition is to further strengthen the coaching structure.

Yong Sung will contribute ideas on improving Kien Keat-Boon Heong's performance and also introduce some of the techniques and strategies used by Korean pairs which have made them a feared lot on the international stage.

"Yong Sung's inclusion is not going to bring about another reshuffle. Cheh Chang will be in charge of Kien Keat-Boon Heong's programme while Yong Sung will assist him," said Kim Her yesterday. 

"I have introduced some of the Korean tactics and I hope that Yong Sung can also identify the weaknesses of Kien Keat-Boon Heong and offer some solutions.

"We cannot completely go the Korean way but there are some good things that we can tap into and this is where Yong Sung can be useful. 

"We will have open discussions once he starts work and will exchange views and ideas to keep improving our programme. 

"The players must be open and should be able to learn from different coaches as a one-coach mentality cannot help.

"Yong Sung will also be utilised to help the back-up pairs but his main focus will be on Kien Keat-Boon Heong. Cheh Chang must come up with a plan on how to get the best out of Yong Sung and which are the areas he can contribute. 

"The Korean style of training is that the players must follow whatever the coaches say, even if the training doesn't work for them.

" However, I also want to listen and get feedback from the players so that we can keep giving the best to them." 

Kim Her said Korean pairs Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae and Ko Sung Hyun-Yoo Yeon Seong have become Malaysia's biggest stumbling blocks and Yong Sung's presence will provide a psychological edge. 

"It always helps in tournaments when you have a coach from your rival nation in your corner. 

"We want to provide that advantage to Kien Keat-Boon Heong when they play the top Korean pairs in future," said Kim Her. 

"There will be a lot of psychological battles going on until the Olympics and let's see what effect it has on Jae Sung-Yong Dae or Sung Hyun-Yeon Seong when Yong Sung sits in our corner with Cheh Chang." 

Cheh Chang has welcomed the inclusion of Yong Sung as he feels the players will benefit if the Korean brings in positive changes. 

"We have to welcome anyone who can bring in good things. The main objective is to help Kien Keat-Boon Heong and if Yong Sung can provide some effective ways in turning around their performance, that's a bonus for them," said Cheh Chang. 

"As long as we can work together, we should be able to do the best we can for Kien Keat-Boon Heong." 

Yong Sung is likely to begin officially after the players return from their European tournaments in early November.