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Never Say Die Until The Final Serve - James Selvaraj

By Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) High Performance Director Datuk James Selvaraj wants players to adopt a 'never say die' attitude although the Thomas Cup squad is labelled as a 'weak team' due to the presence of young players.

Apart from being labelled as a weak team, the Thomas Cup squad led by world number one men's singles player Datuk Lee Chong Wei, has also been receiving negative reports in the media.

James Selvaraj believes, the team comprising Chong Wei, former All England winner Muhammad Hafiz Hashim and former world number one men's doubles pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong still has a chance of making it to the final, if the players go into the battle with a positive attitude, determination and fighting spirit.

Speaking of his own experience in the Thomas Cup competition back in 1976 when he represented the country together with legendary Datuk Punch Gunalan, the former Thomas Cupper said the Malaysian team at that time was called the "Punch Babies" by the media since all the players were young and deemed to have little or no chance of making it to the next stage, let alone the final.

"But we made them eat their words by not only making it to the next stage but walking into the final to face mighty Indonesia. Though we lost in the final, the team had performed beyond expectations," he told Bernama.

"So I hope this team will also not give up and will fight till the end for the country," was Selvaraj's advice to the players.

The Thomas Cup squad that will head to Macau for the Thomas/Uber Cup Qualifiers from Feb 13-19, will feature a number of youngsters like Liew Daren, Mohd Arif Abdul Latiff in the singles, Goh V. Shem/Lim Khim Wah and Hoon Thien How/Teo Kok Siang in the men's doubles.

The squad will start centralised training in Bukit Kiara on Monday before heading to Sabah for the final phase of training from Feb 6 to 10.

James Selvaraj said the main objective of the centralised training was to inculcate a sense of belonging, team spirit, fighting spirit and the will to fight for the country.

"In other tournaments, they played for themselves but for the Thomas Cup it will be a team effort and strategy. So must brainstorm and motivate them to shoulder the dream of the entire nation," he said.

In the Macau Qualifiers, Malaysia will come up against tough resistance provided by the top four main superpowers according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, namely China, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia while Malaysia are in fifth place.

China, though have already qualified for the Thomas Cup final in Wuhan, China from May 20-27 on merit, will be sending a team to play in the Qualifiers, minus their world number two Lin Dan.

Malaysia who won the Thomas Cup in 1992, have since made it to three finals but lost to Indonesia on all three occasions; 1994 lost 0-3 to Indonesia; 1998 lost 2-3 to Indonesia; 2002 lost 2-3 to Indonesia.

Indonesia have won the Thomas Cup a record 13 times since 1949 while China who joined the Thomas Cup family in 1982 have eight wins under their belt and Malaysia have five titles to their credit.

No other country has won the Thomas Cup although South Korea and Denmark have come close a number of times.

-- BERNAMA

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