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Malaysia have made a change to their Uber Cup squad where the injured Sonia Cheah has been replaced by Yang Li Lian.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

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...

Organising Major Sports Events Can Inspire Sports Culture Among The People - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- Organising major sports events can help inspire sports culture among the people and ensure a healthy lifestyle said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said the Tour of Malaysia cycling race organised since 1963, for example, can encourage more people to take the sport in a more competitive way or just for recreation purposes. "A study carried out by a world renown medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that 61 percent of adults in Malaysia do not engage themselves in active sports. "A study by the Health Ministry revealed that only 25 percent of Malaysians exercise," he said in his speech when launching the 2013 Tour of Malaysia (Jelajah Malaysia) at the Youth and Sports Ministry, here, Wednesday. "Cycling, though not as popular here as in countries like Denmark, the activity is becoming popular among the people as can be seen through an increase in sale of bicycles for recreation," he sa...

KBS realistik

TERUJA...Shabery (dua dari kanan) melancarkan Logo Tahun Industri Sukan 2011-2012 di Casa 1, MSN, semalam.    KETIKA beberapa sukan utama diletakkan sasaran meraih pingat khususnya emas di Sukan Olimpik 2012 London, penyertaan bola sepak dan hoki sebagai keluarga baru program Road To London pula dilihat sekadar membantu mereka melepasi kelayakan. Mungkin bersikap lebih realistik dengan keupayaan kedua-dua sukan itu di pentas lebih tinggi, Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek mahu segala bantuan diberikan kepada sejumlah 50 pemain bola sepak dan hoki kebangsaan bagi membolehkan mereka tersenarai sebagai kontinjen ke London. “Bagi acara hoki dan bola sepak, kita tidak boleh melihat bantuan perlu diberi selepas mereka layak tetapi kita akan cuba bantu mereka supaya mereka layak. “Tiada kompromi terhadap misi mendapatkan emas pertama tetapi sasaran kita tahun ini ialah mendapatkan seberapa ramai atlet ke Sukan Olimpik,” katanya selepas mempen...