THE poor showing of the national shuttlers in the World Championships in Copenhagen has set off alarm bells, especially with the Asian Games fast approaching.
Apart from World No 1 Lee Chong Wei and men’s doubles Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Hoon Thien How-Tan Wee Kiong, the rest of the Malaysian players did not even make it past the second round.
Chong Wei Feng, who was supposed to use the World Championships as a platform to redeem himself after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, failed to show any progress and blew his chance of winning against England’s Rajiv Ouseph.
Men’s doubles Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah, however, were unfortunate as they were forced to retire in a second round tie against Taiwan’s Lee Sheng Mu-Tsai Chia Hsin on Wednesday, following a back injury to V Shem.
Having said that, the men’s doubles hardly showed any spirit in their matches, having known that they would be separated after the world meet.
There was hardly any expectations for the women prior to the meet and rightfully so as none made it past the second round.
Women’s singles Tee Jing Yi, despite fighting hard to drag her match to the deciding game, fell short to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the second round while professional shuttler Sannatasah Saniru did not even clear the first hurdle.
All four women’s doubles — Vivian Hoo Kah Mun-Woon Khe Wei, Ng Hu Lin-Ng Hui Ern, Amelia Alicia Anscelly-Soong Fie Cho and Lim Yin Loo-Lee Meng Yean — were also no match for their respective opponents.
Mixed doubles Tan Aik Quan-Lai Pei Jing were completely outclassed by World No 5 Chris and Gabrielle Adcock.
“Our team’s performance here (Copenhagen) has been really disappointing. I believe our women have got a long way to go, as we are not only seeing threats from Asian countries but Europeans as well,” said BA of Malaysia (BAM) deputy president Datuk Norza Zakaria, when contacted in Denmark yesterday.
“The fact that the men’s doubles knew of their split after the competition was not much of a help too.
“And as for Wei Feng, I’ll stick to my argument that the singles department is in need of a drastic revamp.
“Generally, our players have got to embrace sports science more diligently and measures in relation to their mental and fitness strength needs to be introduced. The Asian Games is too close, so reviews and changes will only be made at the end of the year,” added Norza.
The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) has set a target of two silver (men’s singles and doubles) and one bronze (men’s team) for the Asian Games.
Based on their performance at the World Championships, it does not look like the players are capable of achieving it.
In the World Championships, Chong Wei played Ireland’s Scott Evans in the last 16 late yesterday and a win would see him playing either China’s Wang Zhengming or Hong Kong’s Hu Yun in the quarter-finals today.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Hoon Thien How-Tan Wee Kiong played Taiwan’s Sheng Mu-Chia Hsin and Japan’s Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda respectively, also late yesterday.