Badminton: Misbun: Focus now on Beijing

Posted by Lucas Liau Lee Chong Wei, News 12:39 PM

IT'S back to training and psychological classes for Lee Chong Wei, the newly-crowned Aviva Singapore Open 2008 men's singles champion.

Between now and the Beijing Olympics in August, Chong Wei will have no tournaments to worry about and as the countdown to the world's biggest sporting event begins, the Malaysian ace has his sights firmly set on the gold medal in the China capital.

"Every athlete dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal. I'm no exception but it will be very difficult to predict the winner in Beijing. There are so many factors to take into consideration," said Chong Wei.

"Like your form, your preparation and how you deal with the situation at hand on match day."

But if the form guide is anything to go by, then it should be World No 1 Lin Dan of China against Chong Wei, who is ranked No 2, in the fight for glory.
"But don't forget, sometimes the favourites do not always win. There is always the tendency for a dark horse to emerge in a major tournament. Maybe we will see one in Beijing," cautioned Chong Wei.

Chong Wei will enjoy a couple of days break before he resumes training under Misbun Sidek.

"Things have gone well for me in the Singapore Open but there is still plenty of hard work ahead. I'm sure Misbun will put me through a tough training regime before we head for Beijing.

"In between the physical training, I will also be attending psychological classes to improve my mental strength, which I believe will be very important in my quest to do well in Beijing," Chong Wei said.

Misbun will certainly agree with that.

Misbun said: "I'm not saying Chong Wei is perfect now but I can see he is mentally prepared for any situation on court during matches. The way he played at the Singapore Open shows he does not fear any opponent.

"In training, I've always stressed to him that he must be prepared to accept changes in his training regime, no matter how taxing it is.

"He must be prepared to be moved away from the comfort zone and I am doing it," he said.

The performance of the doubles in Singapore has also provided the BA of Malaysia the confidence to look ahead to better days.

Zakry Latif-Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari's triumph is proof that the pair are on the way up.

A strong debut in the Thomas Cup in Jakarta last month and now their first ever Super Series triumph have the pair looking at this week's Indonesia Open.

"We are now being looked at differently by the rest but we are not worried. Our goal is to break into the top three by year-end," said Zakry.

And they are getting there. -- Bernama