Skip to main content

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 reaching the semi-finals for the first time.

"We will go all out and try our best," said Pei Tty, one half of the national women's doubles pair, who felt reaching the final would be a tall order.

Malaysia, drawn in Group A together with defending champion China and United States, stand a good chance of making the quarter-finals although injuries to second and third singles players, Lydia Cheah and Julia Wong threw a spanner in the team's preparations.

Their injury problem had forced the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to send an appeal to the Badminton World Federation, for a last minute replacement, on Tuesday.

Cheah, ranked 63rd in the world is expected to be replaced by Sanatasah Saniru, a youngster ranked 99th while Wong's place is expected to be filled by another youngster, Sonia Cheah.

National singles head coach Rashid Sidek, however, said BWF have yet to reply.

Apart from the duo, the Uber Cup team comprises Wong Mew Choo, Tee Jing Yi (singles), Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty, Woon Khe Wei/Vivian Ho-Goh Lui Ying/Ng Hui Lin (doubles).

Meanwhile, the Thomas Cup squad, spearheaded by world number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei have been drawn in Group B together with minnows Nigeria and Japan.

Apart from Chong Wei, Wong Choong Hann, Hafiz Hashim and Tan Chung Seang head the cast in the singles while three pairs, made up of Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif/Mohd Fairuzizuan Tazari and Hoon Thien How/Ong Soon Hock lead the doubles charge.

According to Rashid, Malaysia has a 50-50 chance of winning the Thomas Cup as the players have prepared well and the fact that they would be playing at home and in front of the home crowd.

National shuttlers would also be able to train at Putra Stadium prior to the finals although Ahmad Shabery admitted that BAM had made a mistake by not booking the venue early to enable our shuttlers to train there.

-- BERNAMA

Comments

  1. Gallivanter3 May 2010 at 9:45 am

    You can also catch the Thomas Cup live coverage online for FREE in the first few days - www.totalsports.tv. I think from quarterfinals onwards, there's a small fee, but that too, there's a contest available right now, where you can join and get full access, all you need to do is to blog about it! :-)

    Details are here - http://bit.ly/9aDQyg

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

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

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
Read more