Skip to main content

BAM fails to take advantage of home comfort

HOST nations, without a doubt, take full advantage of their position to ensure that their team do well but sadly, Malaysia have not done much to boost their hopes of regaining the Thomas Cup.



The advantage of being hosts gives you a chance to practice at the tournament venue but Malaysia will only get the opportunity to train at Putra Stadium five days before the event begins on May 9.

It would have been ideal if the players had been training at the venue for at least three months as it would have given them the chance to adapt to the conditions.

Also, regular training at the venue will surely help newcomers like Tan Chun Seang and doubles pair Ong Soon Hock-Hoon Thien How to get used to playing at the venue which should have been their ‘home’, not Juara Stadium, which is their current training centre.

It is surprising the BA of Malaysia (BAM) didn't have the foresight to make an early effort to secure the venue’s booking to allow the Thomas and Uber Cup trainees to continue their preparation at Putra Stadium although the host’s job was awarded to Malaysia two years ago.



The simulation match, which was supposed to be held at Putra Stadium, instead had to be held at Juara Stadium yesterday after the tournament venue became unavailable, so the purpose of the whole exercise was defeated.

A simulation match must be held at the actual venue according to the schedule and with the presence of fans but it being held at a different venue just makes it another training session.

If the simulation match had been arranged earlier, even a strong opponent like Thailand could have been invited to play Malaysia and this would have given the players a real challenge.

Since Thailand didn't qualify for the Thomas Cup Finals, Malaysia would not have been at risk of exposing their strengths or weaknesses.

The other countries are expected to begin training at Putra Stadium as early as Wednesday which means Malaysia may have to compete for court time and any chance of having closed door training sessions is remote.

One of the main reasons behind the success of the 1992 Thomas Cup squad was that they trained at the venue for almost a year prior to the event and it practically became their home.

The players knew every nook and cranny of Stadium Negara and also mastered the stadium’s notorious draught.

That familiarity was part of the minor details BAM focused on then to achieve success and it worked but unfortunately, the current squad will not have any advantage despite playing at home. NST Boopathy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more

Atlet Tempuhi Empat Kejohanan Besar Sebelum Olimpik Rio 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Mei (Bernama) -- Empat temasya sukan penting yang dijadual berlangsung mulai Disember ini hingga 2015 menjadi medan persiapan atlet negara sebelum menghadapi cabaran Sukan Olimpik 2016 di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, kata Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Khairy Jamaluddin Jumaati. Kejohanan berkenaan ialah Sukan SEA di Myanmar pada Disember, Sukan Asia 2014 di Incheon, Korea Selatan, Sukan Komanwel 2014 di Glasgow, Scotland dan Sukan SEA 2015 di Singapura. Bercakap kepada pemberita selepas melawat Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) di Bukit Jalil di sini, Khairy berkata kesemua temasya sukan itu dilihat amat penting dalam memastikan impian negara untuk membawa pulang pingat emas Olimpik pertama menjadi kenyataan. "Kita di Kementerian Belia dan Sukan (KBS) mahupun MSN akan memastikan semua atlet mendapat bantuan sewajarnya dalam melakukan persiapan ke arah membawa pulang pingat emas pertama negara di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil nanti," katanya. Dalam perkemb...
6 comments
Read more

Uber Cub: Malaysian squad Can Spring A Surprise - Ahmad Shabery

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (Bernama) -- Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek remains confident that the national Uber Cup squad can spring a surprise when Malaysia hosts the Thomas and Uber Cup finals at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from May 9-16. He said despite not being the favourite, the women's team was able to surprise everyone by winning the gold medal at the Laos SEA Games. "I am confident they (Uber Cup team) will be able to produce a similar surprise. Not only are they capable of reaching the semi-final, they can go further," he told reporters after having lunch with national shuttlers here Thursday. National badminton Team manager Datuk Syed Abu Bakar Abdullah who echoed the minister's confidence said: "In Laos, nobody expected the women's team to win the world, so why not the Uber Cup? All they need to do is try their very best." Women's team captain Wong Pei Tty said she and her team-mates have set a target of r...
1 comment
Read more