Assalamualaikum, good day and welcome to Infinitesane "Sporty Saturday". I decided to write this entry long ago, but I don't know what's holding me back. Turns out, the thing that holding me back is Lee Chong Wei autobiography book. He wrote a book about himself and I bought it last week.
"Dare to be a Champion" written by Lee Chong Wei. I'm not sure whether it is really written by him because he's too busy. Maybe somebody else writ it while he just tell the story. However I'm not going to tell you about that book just yet because I'm not yet finish reading them. What I'm trying to tell you all here is the dependancy to Lee Chong Wei (LCW).
(Baca lagi = Read more)
Have you watch Axiata Cup last week and a week before? If you don't know what Axiata Cup is, I've wrote an entry about it here. We already know that LCW not perticipating in that tournament because of his shoulder injury that happen in All England which costing him the title. Axiata Cup is the tournament between South East Asia countries and from that tournament we can see that without LCW, we definitely a second place in this region. We always get a second place in this region recently. Sepak Takraw, we're always behind Thailand and slowly other country are getting better. We even lose to Indonesia at SEA Games. In badminton, without LCW, we're definitely no doubt are behind Indonesia.
The senior team were lost against second team Indonesia! Hafiz Hashim, sometime he's good, sometime he's so annoying (the way he play). I just too dissappointed with him because he's tall. Why don't he use his advantage to dominate the opponent? He's not agile enough, he get tired too quick. I'm not sure about this, can a player at his age will gain fitness? I REALLY REALLY HOPE he'll overcome his fitness and agility problem because he is a promising player (eventhough he's not young anymore). Don't he remember he was once won All England?
Let's talk about Liew Darren and Arif Latif. They look young right? Well Liew Darren is 25~26 years old and Arif Latif is 23 years old. Let see who else in this age. I give you two name, Kenichi Tago and Chen Long are also 23 years old. Kenichi Tago is even younger than me! (I consider myself still young). But just see how well they do in the international stage. At least we always see them (Kenichi Tago and Chen Long) played in quarter final in any tournament right? Where is Liew Darren and Arif Latif? They seems they need more basic knowledge even at their age. Okay, Liew Darren is quite good recently in this year All England. But, Arif Latif? I always notice when I watch Arif Latif played, his smash are not sharp at all. It seems loose and will easily countered by his opponent. As for Liew Darren, he is good but need to work on accuracy. He got skill, but sometime he cannot execute the finishing as he wanted. he always throws points to opponent, just like the junior team, but as for junior it is a different story.
Malaysia sent their Under-21 team to compete in Axiata Cup as second team. Yes, they also lost to Indonesian team, both team. However, they played much entertaining match compared to their senior team matches. They show more compassion, they are more eager to win eventhough on the paper, they don't stand a chance. Misbun Ramdan, son of Malaysian lagend, Misbun Sidek manage to "steal" a set from Indonesia no.1 player, Taufik Hidayat. I'm unfortunate to miss all Zulfadly matches because whether I'm out or I have to give away my mother chances to watch TV. However, the third single, Iskandar Zulkarnain is also VERY VERY entertaining matches. He is so passion in the game, sometime he act like Taufik Hidayat when he is still young. A little bit naughty but Taufik Hidayat was an awesome player back there, while Iskandar not yet an awesome player. Overall, this youngster need to learn quick and improve FAST so that they can save Malaysia from being in the "ROCK BOTTOM" (yes, pun is partly intended). They need to work on accuracy and sharpness in the match.
The double match as for senior, I don't know what to say because they sometime awesome, sometime awful. They're too unconsistent. That's all my comment. As for the junior squad, they're good but not good enough to be top player. They need to be more clever when dealing much superior opponent. And they need to learn how to manage their pressure. There is sometime they so near to win but in the end lost the game because of the pressure.
I think that's all for now. I'm always enjoy watching LCW played. But I'm more enjoy if there is more Malaysian player in the final in any tournament. And our mixed double are also growing well, I'm also enjoy watching them played. We need to improve fast before other countries manage to surpass us and I hope it will not going to happen.
See you tomorrow, InsyaAllah
Until then,
Hasta luego,
Wassalam.
from,
K-tea.
p/s: We're so panic when we know LCW was injured in All England. We know if he got injured and Olympic is just a few month, our first olympic gold medal are getting away.
