Skip to main content

Trouble looms for Malaysia

CHINA have left out Lin Dan and men's doubles World No 1 Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng but are still strong enough to win the Thomas Cup qualifying rounds in Macau on Feb 13-19.

Yang Li Lian replaces the injured Sonia Cheah.
Yang Li Lian replaces the injured Sonia Cheah.

The team will be led by Chen Long while Chen Jin, Du Pengyu and Wang Zhengming are the other singles players while Chai Biao-Guo Zhendong and Liu Ziaolong-Qiu Zihan and Zhang Nan-Li Gen complete China's line-up.

China, who have already qualified for the Thomas Cup, are playing in the qualifying rounds for the first time since 2004 to allow their players to grab valuable Olympic qualifying points.

   Japan look to be the only team capable of upsetting the formbook due to their strength in the doubles with Noriyasu Hirata-Hirokatsu Hashimoto, Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato and Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa  capable of beating China's back-up pairs while Sho Sasaki and Kenichi Tago have also toppled Chen Long and Chen Jin.

China's presence has also made matters worse for Malaysia who will not be seeded in the top four and this will make it difficult for them to qualify for the final round in Wuhan, China on May 20-27.

Indonesia and South Korea look good to join Japan in the final round and the fourth qualifying spot is expected to be a battle between Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.

Malaysia should overcome Thailand but Taiwan will pose a bigger threat due to their doubles strength and the ranking order of their singles players.

Malaysia Open champions Fang Chieh Min-Lee Sheng Mu had beaten Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong in the Korea Open while Chen Hung Ling-Lin Yu Lang are a strong second pair.

Bigger trouble lies in the singles where their best player Hsueh Hsuan Yi will be their No 2 based on yesterday's world rankings, which will be used for seeding purposes, and Malaysia could be in trouble if Hafiz Hashim fails to stop him.

Malaysia have made a change to their Uber Cup squad where the injured Sonia Cheah has been replaced by Yang Li Lian.

Read more: NST

Comments

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

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

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