Skip to main content

Even chance for pair

MIXED DOUBLES: Coach believes Peng Soon-Liu Ying can deliver Olympics medal

NATIONAL coach Jeremy Gan reckons Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, Malaysia's sole representatives in the mixed doubles, have everything to fight for as there are no clear favourites in the event in the London Olympics.

Peng Soon-Liu Ying have also broken the deadlock by becoming the first Malaysian pair to qualify for the mixed doubles, achieved on merit as they are ranked World No 7 with a string of consistent results this year.

The pair won the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold last month but their performance in the super series, where they have reached the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open, All England and Singapore Open, have given them hope in the London Games.

World No 1 Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei of China -- who have won two titles -- and Indonesia's Ahmad Tantowi-Liliyana Natsir, winners of the All England, Swiss Open and India Open, are the main contenders but Jeremy said there is little to separate the top eight pairs and it will boil down to their day-to-day form during the competition at Wembley Arena on July 28-Aug 3.

The mixed doubles will be held in a four-group preliminary format where the top two will advance to the quarter-finals. The format will also favour the Malaysians and Jeremy said the first target is to reach the knock-out stage.

"The mixed doubles is very open as all the top eight pairs have won at least one title this year. This is including Peng Soon-Liu Ying and I believe they have a chance for a medal," said Jeremy.
"Tantowi and Liliyana have done well this year but the former lacks experience while Zhang Nan-Yunlei are strong.

However, Sudket (Prapakamol)-Saralee (Thungthongkam) have also surprised by winning the Indonesia Open while the two Danish combinations and Taiwan also have experience on their side.
"Peng Soon-Liu Ying have also beaten most of the top pairs and must play with confidence in order to reach the medal rounds. The first target is to clear the group stage."

Jeremy confirmed that Peng Soon has recovered from his wrist injury while Liu Ying has a minor arm injury.

"Peng Soon-Liu Ying play well as underdogs and I hope they can take advantage of the situation."
However, the fact that Peng Soon-Liu Ying have not beaten Zhan Nan-Yunlei or Tantowi-Liliyana is a concern but the Malaysians have nothing to lose and this could help them.

Comments

Post a Comment

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 ...
12 comments
Read more

Badminton: Fans rooting for all-Malaysian semis

Reports: RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: The home fans will be rooting for an all-Malaysian men’s singles semi-final between Lee Chong Wei and Liew Daren. But Chong Wei is more fancied to advance than Daren in quarter-final matches against Indonesian Simon Santoso and Dane Peter Gade-Christensen respectively at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. Yesterday, Chong Wei defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in a second-round match that saw the world number one struggling to adapt to the draught in the stadium in the second game. And Daren continued a fairy tale run in his home Open, blowing away a toothless Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Taiwan 21-14, 21-12. Although Choong Wei had to slog for the win over Tien Minh, the top seed and defending champion felt that he was playing better by the day. “I got off to a good start but found it hard to cope with the draught. I tried to catch up after losing my momentum but that did not happen and I decided to conserve energy for ...
11 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more