Thomas Cup: M'sia fires first salvo in mind games against China

Posted by Lucas Liau News 9:55 AM

LET the mind games begin.
Malaysia's doubles chief coach Rexy Mainaky and world No. 1 men's singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei have joined forces to undermine the superiority of defending champions China in the Thomas Cup Finals.
Yesterday, Rexy fired the first salvo, saying China were already showing signs of wilting under the pressure.
He said the statement by China chief coach Li Yongbo that a two-hour training slot at Putra Stadium was insufficient “showed that the Chinese supremo is not as confident as he used to be”.
“Does Lin Dan need more time to train at the stadium. Is Yongbo worried for his star player?,” said Rexy, who feels that Yongbo is worried about world No. 2 Lin Dan's unimpressive form thus far this year.
Lin Dan, who failed to shine at the All-England and the Swiss Open, has only won one title this year – the Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) in India in April.
Rexy also said that although China's doubles pairs had improved, “they are beatable”.
China's top three pairs are Guo Zhengdong-Xu Chen, Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and Zhang Dan-Chai Biao while Malaysia's top three pairs are Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and Ong Soon Hock-Hoon Thien How.
“On paper, China can mix and match their doubles line-up. They can even field former world champions Cai Yun-Haifeng as their top pair,” said Rexy. “But, on current form our players are capable of beating them. Koo-Tan are in a different league now while Fairuzizuan-Zakry are all fired up to prove their critics wrong.
“The standard of all the first second doubles players are about the same. We can beat them.”
Yesterday, after completing their final day of training at Putra Stadium, Chong Wei revealed that he was no longer afraid of China's shuttlers and even predicted that he would continue his unbeaten run against Lin Dan on homeground.