JUST a thought came in my mind as the 19th Asian Games kicked off in Hangzhou last Saturday. Can our badminton team finally win a gold medal to end the 16 years drought?

It’s high time for us – as one of the pioneer in these games – to leap forward and stand as winners in the podium. We have a rich tradition and once dominated the continent along with Indonesia and China.

Badminton is now likely the No.2 most popular sports in our country after football.

A look at our medal chances seems so difficult to predict as other nations like Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore or even Hong Kong are growing by strength each passing year.

For a gentle reminder, our team’s medal count at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia was 0-0-0. We don’t want another same script repeated in Hangzhou?

We don’t know what really hit our players five years ago in Jakarta-Palembang when came back home empty handed for the first time since 2002 in Busan. This is the record based on the last five Asian Games.

Our best outing was in 1970 Bangkok Games where we won 3-0-3. To an extent these glories moment remains a benchmark till today for our current players to beat.

But, a quick view from our top players performances in the World Tour, this year looks quite encouraging. I firmly believe we will have a podium finish this time at the Binjiang Gymnasium when the competition, including the team events starts from Sept.28 till Oct. 7.

Here, the medals for the individual events is likely to come from our men’s and women’s doubles or mixed doubles pairs.

Then what about the singles? Sorry for throwing this harsh criticism as any medal hopes from this events can be ruled out this time.

Our genuine medal prospects we can see are Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (men’s doubles), Pearly Tan-M Thinaah (women’s doubles) and our two mixed doubles pairs- Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie.

Our last gold medal was won in 2006 Asian Games in Doha through our men’s doubles pair, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong.

Without any doubt, the quality shown by top players from Asia nowadays, especially from China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, India or Thailand will further make our challenge tougher this time around.

The players and coaches need to find a better solution to cross the hurdles. It’s all in the mind.

It’s not some of our top players are stagnant in their game but the steady improvement from their rivals in these region should also take into account.

The quality we have is the same as any top players in Asia, in terms of tactics and game variation. But most of our players tend to cave in easily when it mattered the most.

Pearly and Thinnah came close winning the Hong Kong Open title in the doubles, recently. But what happened at the end?

Badminton critic, Datuk James Selvaraj opined that its going to be a tough ride for us.

He admit the progress of other top Asian players who can take on the best of the world anytime.

The former national coach highlighted, at the world stage or Olympics, only world number one, Viktor Axelsen from Denmark is a big threat from Europe as the rest of his top rivals comes from Asia.

You must have watched how Thailand ace, Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Japanese new star, Kodai Naraoka showed their prowess as a finalist in the men’s singles at the recent World Championships in Copenhagen, last month.

For a record, expect for Denmark men’s doubles pair, Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen and women singles, Carolina Marin (Spain), all the other finalist at the recent championships comes from Asian nations.

“There is so much qualities in Asian Games which could equal or better than World Championships or Olympics. That’s how good the field of our continent players here in Hangzhou this time.

“It is going to be a mammoth task for our Malaysian players to get pass all the important rounds here unless they can rise to the occasion at the right time.

“They have to step to another gear and play with confident and remain calm all the time to keep their golden dream alive,” he said to Apa Khabar TV.

In his opinion, our Malaysian badminton medals will come from the men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

“I can only see our doubles has the potential to deliver medals based on their overall performances this year.

“I’m certainly exited about our mixed doubles results. One of them are our young pair Cheng Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei. They are fast improving and have all the ingredients to do well in Hangzhou with the right attitude,” said James.

As for Aaron-Wooi Yik, they seems to do well in big tournaments and James feels if this pair is fit and confident they will surely be a threat to all rivals in men’s doubles.

“Our top men’s doubles pair are no doubt among the best in the world right now. But they must be very sure what they are doing with their game plan on the court.

“It is also important for their coaches to guide and motivate them at this moment of time,” he said.

When mentioned about men’s singles, James did not ruled out Lee Zii Jia chances but felt the national No.1 has got a lot of catching up job in Hangzhou on his current poor form.

“We all hope he can bounce back and spring a surprise here. But first he got to believe in himself and enjoy his moment to clear the first and second rounds hurdles. There are many singles players who are in higher ranking and playing so well currently.

“At the same time I’m impressed too with the progress shown by our No.2 player, Ng Tze Yong who is performing much better nowadays. He got a chance for medal if can maintain his winning streak and show more strength in his games,” James said.

At these Asian Games, it’s very important too for our players to stay calm all the time on the court an avoid careless mistakes to progress further and reach the podium finish.

In sports, top players need to handle all the pressure and obstacles to become a champion. Let’s go for the gold. It has been too long for Malaysia to wait.

Majulah sukan untuk negara!

BADMINTON INFO

Competition dates: Sept.28-Oct 7
Venue: Binjiang Gymnasium
Medals at stake: 7-7-7

Record at last 5 Asian Games
2002 Busan (0-0-2)
2006 Doha (1-0-3)
2010 Guangzhou (0-2-0)
2014 Incheon (0-0-4)
2018 Jakarta (0-0-0)
Best Outing: 1970 Bangkok (3-0-3)