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Daren, Hafiz Can Help Deliver Point To Malaysian Squad - Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 (Bernama) -- Commitment and determination. These are qualities of Liew Daren and Muhammad Hafiz Hashim which could help the national team get through the Thomas Cup qualifying rounds in Macau next month.

The qualifying rounds are from Feb 14-19.

According to national singles chief coach Rashid Sidek, the players have shown a marked improvement in terms of stamina, and expressed satisfaction with the level of confidence among the players to accomplish their mission in the next two weeks.

"Daren should take the opportunity training with world number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Muhammad Hafiz to learn and overcome the problem of nervousness during the game.

"Playing as a team is different. If the performance is not up to the mark, it can be good because we don't need to play all out. We need only give 70 per cent during the game," he told reporters after a centralied training session in Bukit Kiara here.

Rashid said Daren did not have problems in terms of skill but hoped that his player would get ready mentally and emulate the playing style of the senior.

"Daren can strengthen his level of confidence during the game because he gets many advantages when sparring with Chong Wei and Hafiz. I believe Daren has learnt something from the Asian and SEA Games last year," he said.

In Indonesia's SEA Games last year, Daren, who played first singles, lost to host player Simon Santoso. He has also been knocked out by Thailand's Suppanyu Avihingsanon in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Rashid said he was confident Hafiz had began to strategise to collect a point in the tournament, and understood that the former All-England singles champion had begun training in the past two weeks.

Besides Daren and Hafiz, the Badminton Association of Malaysia has Chong Wei and Mohd Arif Latif in the men's singles.

Malaysia's challenge in the men's doubles will be spearheaded by former world number one Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, Goh Wei Shem/Lim Khim Wah and Hoon Thien How/Teo Kok Siang.

-- BERNAMA

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