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Stadium Badminton Kuala Lumpur
3 1/2 Mile Jalan Cheras
56000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (+60) 3 92845421
Fax: (+60) 3 92843251
Email: bac@badmintonasia.org
For court booking call:
Tel: (+60) 3 92849576
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MALAYSIA GOES BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
News from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur speak of the nation still trying to come to terms with its recent failure to win the Thomas Cup on home ground. Prior the Finals, expectations were high that its players were ready to claim the coveted trophy they last won in 1992. That confidence stemmed from the fact that the team comprised players who occupied top world ranking in both the Singles and Doubles, had a period of prolonged centralized training under specialist coaches plus the advantage of the Finals being played at the familiar Putra Badminton stadium, the scene of many a Malaysian success in the past.
But what the Malaysian coaches probably had not bargained on was the fact that the other participating teams, primarily Indonesia, Korea, Denmark and Japan had haboured very similar sentiments and had arrived in Kuala Lumpur equipped to topple China, the defending champions.
But as it happened, none came close to achieving that desire. The Lin Dan-led China was overwhelmingly powerful and the Thomas Cup will stay with the Chinese yet another season.
As the dust settled on the tournament, cries arose from a sports loving Malaysian population as why the unexpectedly dismal performance after all the initial hype. Loss to China was not an entirely unexpected result but the manner by which the team was humiliated with a one-sided score-line was. But more damaging to national pride was the shock defeat at the hands of the Japanese in the group stage. This was a first for the nation in its long history with the sport.
So, it was back to the boardroom for the Association, Initially, a post-mortem was held to determine the causes. As expected, there were many – from players, trainers, administrations and interested parties. And an equal number of remedial measures were forthcoming from all quarters. Malaysia had gone through this process each time it failed to perform at the highest levels.
Fortunately the nation is blessed with all that it needs to make it a power it was in the forties and fifties. The facilities are in place, the expertise is available, there is a strong government backing with funds to support programmes to mould good players to better ones and promising ones into champions. But still, national players continue to fall short. The nation is yet to produce a World or an Olympic champion when China, Indonesia, Korea and Denmark have achieved those targets.
For the nation is recoup some semblance of respectability after its dismal performance at the recently concluded Thomas and Uber Cups, it has to be continuous in its performance at some of the major events that are due in the days ahead. There are the Singapore and Indonesian legs of the Super Series due in June, the World Championships in Paris in August, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October and the Guangzhou Asian Games in November. The Olympics in 2012 I still a long way off.
A start needs to be made now to bring back some sort of confidence to the creditability of the national team. The Singapore and Indonesian legs of the Super Series may well be the take-off point.
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