Yee Khan: After Chong Wei, the future looks scary for Malaysian badminton
Top News 2:15 PM
PETALING JAYA: There is great hope on Lee Chong Wei to deliver the first gold medal for the country at the London Olympics but former badminton doubles great Datuk Tan Yee Khan felt there is a more urgent need for Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to immediately look into what lies after that as the future looks scary indeed.
Chong Wei was on the verge of making history as the first world champion for the country but his hopes ended with a 22-20, 14-21, 21-23 defeat to Lin Dan of China at the World Championships in London last Sunday and that was the only bright talking point the Malaysian badminton team brought back.
And Yee Khan, the two-time former All-England champion, felt it is time the powers-to-be get working from now on to prepare for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
A class of one: Lee Chong Wei was the only Malaysian shuttler to shine at the recent World Badminton Championships in London. – AFP
“We can still hope on Chong Wei for the next two years at the most but there is no single promising player I see at the moment and this should not happen considering our badminton tradition.
“We need to start grooming up the right group of players for the future and you need about two years to get things right before you can see them challenging for the big titles.
“And we have to start looking at the younger set of players as it is too late for the current group to make changes.
“We already have a proven champion at home and the best way to come up, in my opinion, is to learn from the champion.
“That’s why I am surprised why no player in the national team is following the playing style of Chong Wei.
“Chong Wei, in fact, has observed how Lin Dan is playing and you can see he has changed his playing style to resemble his rival.
“It’s one of the reason why it’s so close this time between both of them.
“In fact, I praise Chong Wei for coming so close to winning the world title.
“If he can maintain his current condition, I believe Chong Wei holds a better chance to win if they meet again at the Olympic Games next year,” said Yee Khan, who played in the 1967 Thomas Cup winning team and also guided the Sidek brothers – Razif and Jalani – to the All-England men’s doubles title in 1982.
Yee Khan added it is easier said than done to produce another top player in the mould of Chong Wei as they must have the physical and mental strength in place first.
“That is why we have to start looking now into the future and not wait until Chong Wei is no longer around.”
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 2:15 PM.
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