By V. Ashok

OUR national players’ ‘report card’ from the just concluded World Championships in Copenhagen did suggest an overall improvement – something to cheer them up before facing another big misson – the Asian Games, which is less than a month away.

Surprisingly the biggest move came from our new mixed doubles pair – Chen Tan Jie-Toh Ee Wei who are now the world No.11 pair in the latest ranking released after the tournament.

They climbed six places after an impressive quarter-final finish in Denmark to mark their presence as a new threat to their rivals. This came just nine months after they were teamed up.

They overtook Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai as the new national No.1 pair.

The second would be our women top pair, Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah who crossed the line to make to the quarter finals for the first time. This fairly good achievement helped them to keep their world No.11 spot and an eye to qualify to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

On a sad note, despite a creditable semi-final run, our top men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik dropped from No.4 to No.6. The duo lost their place to the newly crowned world champions from Korea, Kan Min Hyuk-Seo Seung Jae.

But as long the national top pair remains consistence and climb back into the top five bracket – which they are capable – their ticket to Olympic is guaranteed. In the 2021 Tokyo Games, they were the surprised bronze medallists.

It was a disappointing outing for Lee Zii Jia who dropped one spot to No.14 as he failed to collect additional points needed following a last-16 exit, last week.

Another single’s player, Ng Tze Yong failed to cross the hurdle in second round but his ranking remains unchanged at 22.

Interesting to note, the clear picture at the moment is our medal prospect in the Asian Games or Paris 2024 might come from our doubles pair (men, women and mixed), not the men’s singles – unless a drastic change in Zii Jia to win a medal in Hangzhou and also other few tournaments in the World Tour.

Our women single’s don’t look strong in these big league – and it’s fair not to talk about their chances and also for Olympic qualification, come next July.

Our top player, Goh Jin Wei is now at No.34 in world ranking. It looks like a tall order for the 23-year-old player from Bukit Mertajam to jump into the top 20 bracket within the next eight months.

Looking forward, it’s time to forget the Copenhagen episode but move on to a brighter side of the Asian Games for the gold quest in Hangzhou which starts from Sept 23 till Oct 10.

Yes, our top players should flex their muscles and start aiming high – not just trying to win a medal but the title. We have a few players who can now match any world top players from these region, especially in the men, women and mixed doubles.

China, as the host are likely to show dominance at their home soil with Japan and South Korea, as usual, a tough nut to crack in all the doubles events.

Indonesia was a let down for not winning any gold at the WC but they are still a traditional power in Asia Games. Others like India, Thailand or Singapore got the quality players to create some upsets.

Malaysia too are in these group. The last time we won a gold medal was at the 2006 edition in Doha, Qatar through our men’s doubles pair, Koo Kien Kiat-Tan Boon Heong.

This time, the nation’s golden hope once again falls on the shoulder of the WC bronze medalist, Aaron-Wooi Yik to end the 16-year drought.

Their podium finish at the WC is not that bad after all although to some extend was disappointing not to retain their crown won in Tokyo, last year.

It hurts but there is no point to ponder what went wrong. The best is to regroup fast and continue from where they left in Copenhagen.

National coaching director, Rexy Mainaky at times seems more passionate than his charges during the doubles matches, including the women at the WC. We could hear him shouting to make them stay alert and at times closing his eyes and praying from the edge of the court.

All he wanted is to see his charges playing without fear facing their opponents – like how he used to raise his game level during the glorious playing days – winning big titles with partner Ricky Subagja.

As a respected player, winning in big tournaments became a habit to him and that is exactly what he wants our Malaysian players to do – be a fighter on the court all the time and move on to the next rounds.

In the 90s, he and fellow countryman, Ricky formed the most successful team of the decade. Noted for their agility and power, both won over thirty international titles together including the Olympic gold in 1996, the WC crown in 1995 and All-England back-to-back title in 1995 and 1996.

Here, our national doubles pairs got one of the best coaches in the world to guide them but the results so far are just above par compared to Rexy’s tremendous effort and motivation. The biggest prize he delivered was the gold medal at the WC, last year through Aaron-Wooi Yik.

Let’s not just stay there when we have a fantastic coach who wants to see all his players to win big at world stage.

Rexy believes Aaron-Wooi Yik have the quality to deliver in major tournaments but their approach is missing something extra.

The coaching director wants the world No.6 to sacrifice more in their bid to stand on the podium in their first Asian Games outing in Hangzhou.

With just less than a month away from Asiad, he wants the duo to raise the bar.

“If we want to win a medal, even gold at the Asian Games, both the coaches and players must sacrifice more to make it happen,” said Rexy as quoted in The Star.

“It’s about sacrificing everything to focus more on badminton…and avoid many things that are not related to badminton.”

Our top women pair, Pearly-Thinaah gave some new hope to go for an extra mile in the WC but they repeated the same mistakes at the key moments. They had to blame themselves for missing the opportunity to become the first Malaysian women pair to get into the last four with the bronze medal guaranteed.

Pearly-Thinaah got the quality to rise again in Asian Games, next month and improve their world ranking

Some critics says, the world No.11 pair seems to have ‘mental block’ whenever playing against Chinese rivals. This time they lost to world No.6, Zhang Shuzian-Zheng Yu 21-17, 17-21, 19-21 in the quarter- finals.

Let’ see how they bounce back at the Asian Games, next month.

In the men’s singles, Tze Yong should note that many other younger players are improving much faster and he needs to buck-up without wasting time.

Thailand sensation, Kunlavut Vitidsarn captured a historic gold for his country after outlasting fellow 22-year-old Naraoka of Japan 19-21, 21-18, 21-7 in an energy sapping final at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen on Sunday.

Vitidsarn, the new world champion is now the main hope for Thailand to win gold in Hangzhou.

The final showed that both the youngsters currently ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the world respectively were much ahead of Tze Yong in their development.

National men’s singles coach Hendrawan believes his player needs more time to reach the top but acknowledged that his charge does not have that luxury as the battle for spots in the 2024 Paris Olympics hots up.

“Tze Yong needs more time to work on his weaknesses in training but he also needs to compete in many tournaments to improve his ranking to qualify for the Olympics,” Hendrawan had said.

Tze Yong got the potential but need to work harder and close the gap with other top young players

Like it or not, the Badminton Association Malaysia (BAM) needs to do something fast to make sure our young promising players don’t get drifted too far from the world’s best in their age bracket. They should be in the chasing pack all the time and not to let the gap becomes bigger.

The reality is, other top countries keep churning young champions on a consistence basis but where is our future stars?

Majulah sukan untuk negara!