Misbun to look at juniors after yet another failure
ANOTHER failed Thomas Cup campaign. And singles chief coach Misbun Sidek says that it's time to make strong efforts to develop the juniors for a successful bid to regain the Cup.
Malaysia, who last won the world men's team title in 1992 in Kuala Lumpur, were shown the exit by Indonesia in this Finals at the Senayan Indoor Stadium in Jakarta on Wednesday. They were beaten 1-3 by the defending champions in the quarter-finals.
The Malaysian hope to topple the Indonesians rested very much on their singles players winning points but Wong Choong Hann and Mohd Roslin Hashim failed to deliver.
The two Olympic-bound shuttlers started strongly in their matches but their challenges fizzled out.
The 27-year-old Choong Hann, who suffered a stomach upset a day earlier, was beaten 15-12, 2-15, 6-15 by youngster Sony Dwi Kuncoro. The other veteran, Roslin, crashed to a 10-15, 2-15 loss by Taufik Hidayat.
In between the singles matches, the veteran pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah picked up a point, beating the young combination of Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto 15-12, 15-6.
The scratch pair of Chew Choon Eng-Koo Kien Keat made a gallant bid to save the tie but it was all in vain. They were beaten 9-15, 15-13, 12-15 by the very experienced pair of Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian.
Misbun was downcast but made no excuses for his charges' failure to win their matches.
“It is like a bad dream. I had hoped for something beautiful but as a leader I have failed. To beat Indonesia, we had to win two singles and one doubles. But it did not work out that way,” he said.
“We had the chance to beat them in the singles ... two years ago in Guangzhou, the singles made it count but they failed to do it again here. It is my failure.”
And Misbun said the big challenge for him now was to prepare a better team for the next Finals in Japan in 2006.
That means some of the seniors in the team may be on their way out.
“I have to start now. We do not have a big pool of players and I have to identify juniors with potential and gear them up for this major event. This will be a very challenging task for me,” said Misbun.
“The players I select must be able to challenge the seniors. But the problem now is that there is a big gap in standard between the seniors and the juniors.
“I have to correct this and the focus will be on the second group of players. They have to get quality training and proper exposure.”
Several new faces are expected to be in the national team after the Asian and World Junior Championships in June and November respectively.
“I will look at the top performers at these junior tournaments. We also have players in our Academy (Bukit Jalil Sports School). There are a few who are now undergoing intense training under Sun Chenhua. I will tap a few from there,” said Misbun.
Besides Choong Hann, the other singles players in the national team under the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s banner are Lee Chong Wei, Lee Tsuen Seng, Kuan Beng Hong, Yeoh Kay Bin, K. Yogendran and Mohd Hazwan Jamaluddin.
Roslin and his younger brother, Hafiz, are from Nusa Mahsuri but they also train together with the BAM players.
For the record, Malaysia have finished as the runners-up thrice to Indonesia since winning the Cup in 1992 – in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
They failed to qualify for the semi-finals in 1996 and 2000.
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