Excuse my French - Taufik Hidayat is Back!!!

Guess whose back on form? Just take a wild guess? Let me introduce you to the "Most natural and talented Badminton Player", Taufik Hidayat! Its a real pleasure to see this great man come back in form as the Badminton World has missed his world class play for more than 2 years now..

Coming into the Men's Singles French Open Semi's between Taufik and Lee Chong Wei, everyone would have thought that Lee Chong Wei would prove his World No.1 ranking by taking revenge from his defeat in the Macau Open against Taufik. Both players took a break from the Dutch Open to prepare themselves for this tournament.

Both players looked well prepared entering the competition and looking at the semi's match-up, it was an exciting match to watch. Some background lining up to the Semi's, Taufik has played 3 sets for all of his earlier rounds, and all of the matches were tough games for him. On the other side, Lee Chong Wei entered the Semi's by defeating all of his opponents in straight sets. This means in paper that Lee Chong Wei has a fresher legs coming to the Semis. On top of that, in recent years, Taufik is not known to have great stamina.

With all of these lined up for the Semi's most Malaysians were rooting for Chong Wei to take the Semis match. The game started well with Chong Wei taking the first game 21-16 as Chong Wei hit his form early in the match. Taufik knew he had to push the game to the next level by changing his style of play to a more aggressive style and he managed to do just that. He played some awesome sharp net plays and some really accurate smashes to catch Chong Wei off guard which led him to take the second set easily 21-14.

At this point, you can see two different class/standard of plays; the current World No. 1, Chong Wei and the former World No. 1, Taufik. Taufik showing to the world and the lucky French spectators that he's back in his Old Glory Playing days by playing one of his best badminton ever in the past 2 years. Each and every stroke of Taufiks had an intention/direction and he studied/anticipated every of Chong Wei strokes. Chong Wei had no answer to the mighty Taufik Hidayat! His smashes were easily returned, not just a normal return but there was one returned which STUNNED Chong Wei and MYSELF! In the 3rd and deciding set, Chong Wei had a 3/4 court opportunity to smash on the backhand side of the court which he did. Chong Wei smashed the shuttle as hard as he could cross court, to Taufik’s Backhand. As Chong Wei made the smash, he rushed forward like how anyone would anticipate a low return due to the speed of the smash. But to everyone amazement, Taufik moved his body to the backhand return and he pushed the shuttle right back to the baseline of Chong Wei's overhead and he caught Chong Wei as Chong Wei was moving to the front. As a badminton player, I have not seen such a return in ages as one need to be quick and one needs to have a strong wrist to make such a return and Taufik is the man!

On top of that there was another Taufik moment when he placed a net play for Chong Wei and Chong Wei anticipated the net play hence why he jumped forward to the net to push the shuttle to Taufik’s backhand while catching Taufik who was in the front of the net. Taufik being caught off position chased the shuttle with his back facing Chong Wei to retrieve the backhand shot which was already close to the floor. To everyone who plays badminton would only anticipate that the next shot Taufik would play would either go out, or be hanging at the front of the opponent’s court. Again, Taufik shows the world by actually driving the shuttle to Chong Wei's baseline forehand which caught Chong Wei by surprise.

Taufik took the 3rd game even easier than the 2nd by winning 21-12. There is a video download from simplybadminton's site to all those who have missed this great matchup [video 1; video 2]. This was a superb performance by Taufik and to me I think the only player who can take Lin Dan is the great Taufik Hidayat. You rarely see Taufik shows his emotions after winning but this time around, he was all smiles after beating Chong Wei. I was lucky to catch the game on Astro :) Hope you guys enjoy it too.. Taufik will be playing his old rival Peter Gade in the finals and this would be like an Old School Reunion for badminton!

Ciao da mao!

Mental trainer to accompany Chong Wei during tournaments

I'm glad that the NSC and Misbun share the same opinion as myself that Chong Wei needed a mental trainer. I think its a good move for them to have a mental trainer for our players as honestly I think most of our players lack that mental strength. However there are a few arguement points which I would like to state.

I spoke to a few people and what I've gathered is that bottom line is that our players had it easy for them hence why they are not mentally strong. Looking at countries like China and Indonesia, where the people are poor.. Parents send their kids to the academy in an early age and all of them are put thru a very difficult and long journey since they were young. There were thousands of talent to choose from and all of them are taught to endure and fight to have a chance to represent their countries. Since its so difficult to represent their country, they have been taught to survive at an early age. They are trained to battle and to accept challenges which comes their way hence why they have better mental strength. In Denmark, players are professionals and survive based on the sponsors they get and that comes with the number of tournaments you win. As the saying goes "The going get tough, the tough gets gets going".

Where else in Malaysia, we pay the players huge sums of money depending on their rankings and all of them mostly did not have a hard growing up badminton life. Well if you even look back at the times of

Tan Aik Huang, the Malaysian team then had to raise their own funds to buy their air tickets for the All England. They won many All Englands and trophies at that era as they knew how to work hard for success. Some people also have commented that our players are not serious at their training sessions and they fool around. These are the kind of attitude which wont get us anywhere and I think not only a mental trainer is required but someone to discipline them too.

Saying this, I think a mental trainer like Federik Tan may not even be a solution for the Malaysia team or will it? Lets not spoil our players much and let them earn their money based on how they perform or thru tournaments.

Ciao da mao

Macau Open Video- Taufik Hidayat's best game of 2008

G'day badminton lovers!

Guess today must be my lucky day as I've managed to find a video of Macau Open's best final match! You guys who missed the match must watch the video as it's the best performance of Taufik this year and I have not seen him play this well before.. Did you know that Taufik holds the fastest smash for the Men's Singles? His fastest smash is 305 km/h (189 mph) which is much faster than a tennis player! Well today just shows you how fast his smashes are.. We also know that Chong Wei is one of the best retrievers and one of the fastest players in the court and yet he had no answers to Taufik's smashes..

On top of that, we also know that Chong Wei is a very tricky player and he's fast to the net, quick in tapping opponents net plays. Again, Taufik shows us how accurate his net plays are, which Chong Wei could not tap. Taufik had deceived Chong Wei many times with his trick shots, which I found amuzing.

Finally, Taufik made 2 killer finishings to the 2 sets!! Check out Taufik's last smash on the first set! That's what I call accuracy! :) Also his final return of Chong Wei's net shot.. WOW!

Lets let the badminton do the talking! Enjoy peeps! Do feel free to share what you think of the game..

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Ciao da mao!

Mark

Macau Open - Taufik Hidayat wins first title of the year!

Wow! What a fantastic performace by Taufik in the Macau Open finals 2008! Taufik Hidayat, played Lee Chong Wei in the finals and I predicted that he would lose to Chong Wei as I felt Chong Wei is a much faster and fit player. I was wrong and what an exciting finals it was..

Taufik looked like he was back to him glorious form as he played a brilliant game againts Chong Wei. Taufik knew he had a long task ahead as Chong Wei was fitter and faster than him. What Taufik did was he pulled Chong Wei to various corners of the court forcing Chong Wei to hit half court shots for Taufik's smashing winners. Taufik won the game 21-19 and 21-15.

It's been a while since I've seen Taufik play such an aggresive and attacking play. His trick shots were much more deceptive and his net shots were sharper than Chong Wei's. In all angles, Taufik looked to be the player he was 4 years back and Chong Wei had no reply to Taufik's game. With this form, I think if Taufik were fit for the Olympics, Chong Wei would have lost to him in the early stages.

"The key (for my victory) was to win the first game. Then in the second game, I felt less pressure to play my best," Taufik was quoted as saying by Antara.

“Chong Wei is known for his attacking, explosive and deceptive game. But he was extra cautious today and allowed Taufik to take total control,” Misbun said.

“Taufik is an intelligent player and he knows how to take advantage (of situations). Chong Wei will just have to continue with his efforts to justify his ranking as world number one. He has given his best and it will be more training for him after this,” said Misbun Sidek (Chong Wei's coach).

I am happy for Taufik as I think he is the only few players in the world who can take on Lin Dan and challenge for the world No. 1 spot. As for Chong Wei, he has to start winning tournaments to prove his world No. 1 Status..

Cant seem to find the finals video online.. if you manage to find it do let me know.. Also do share what you think of the mens singles finals!

Macau Open Taufik Hidayat vs Lee Chong Wei - Mens Singles Finals

Hi guys..

Its going to be an exciting finals in this Macau Open.. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Taufik Hidayat (Ind) play Lee Chong Wei (M’sia) and it would be a fun to watch match. Taufik defeated Kuan Beng Hong (M’sia) 21-11 & 21-12 in 29 minutes while Chong Wei defeated Yunus Alamsyah (Ind) 21-13 & 21-14 in 37 minutes.

Taufik is one of my favourite players in the world who is also one of the most talented however I think Chong Wei will take the game easily. For Taufik to win, he has to take the first game and push hard for the second. If the game goes to three sets, I think Taufik is not fully fit to win. Chong Wei is the top seed and should take the game in two sets.

What do you guys think? Taufik or Chong Wei? Straight games or three sets?

Ciao
Mark

Lin Dan wins Badminton Olympic Gold

World No. 1 Lin Dan crushed Malaysia’a Golden hopes by trashing World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei 21-12, 21-8 to win the Men’s Singles Badminton Olympic Gold.

There were a lot of buzz and hype about the finals, but to me the game ( I mean Chong Wei) did not live to the expectations. Lin Dan proved his dominance with very forceful strokes and with his lightning court coverage. He studied every move Chong Wei made and he was quick to react to every shot to his advantage. Lee Chong Wei did not have any answers to “Super” Dan on that day.
“I felt a lot of pressure playing in front of my home crowd,” said an exhilarated Lin. “I thought it would be difficult to play the match and the pressure of the crowd might even be to my disadvantage, but I played well.” All credits to Lin Dan for that superb performance and for rising to the occasion. This is what makes him a world champion.


Lin Dan winning the gold medal

On the other hand, if we look at Lee Chong Wei, when he was entering the court, he had that nervous look on his face. In my mind I asked the question, “A world No. 2 showing his nervousness before the game? How can this be?” We were always thought to enter the court like a Tiger (Like what Lin Dan did).

“I suffered a lot of pressure tonight but I do not want to use it as an excuse for my defeat,” Chong Wei said. What a statement… To me, I think Lin Dan had more pressure on his hands than Chong Wei did.

“I have tried my best but Lin Dan played perfectly tonight,” said Malaysian sport icon Lee. “I couldn’t match his shuttle speed. He was much stronger than me and controlled the whole match.” That’s a good thing, he gives praises when its due.


“At the end of the match it is not who is playing at a higher level, it is all about who is mentally stronger,” Lee commented on his loss. Again, why isn’t Chong Wei mentally stronger than or as strong mentally as Lin Dan? After all he’s the world no. 2. I can’t recall if I’ve seen Nadal never looking nervous when he played Federer and neither should Chong Wei. It shows what kind of mental strength the Malaysians have. To me, they can’t handle pressure, hence why we only managed 1 silver.

I would like to end on some reason’s on Why Lin Dan had more pressure on his hands:
1. China’s target was to get 3 gold medals. Less than that it would be a failure. If Lin Dan lost, it would be a failure for China.

2. Lin Dan had 6,800 supporters in the stadium watching and expecting him to win. On top of that, I dont know how many million Chinese were watching the game supporting Lin Dan.

3. Lin Dan lost to Chong Wei in the Thomas Cup, more pressure for him to win.


Ciao da mao
Mark

Malaysia’s Olympic Success Depends on Lee “Skywalker” Chong Wei

Looks like all our hopes for Malaysia's 1st Gold Medal lays in the hands of our beloved Lee Chong Wei. Can this dude from Penang rise up to the occasion to prove to the world that he's the "Luke Skywalker" who brings a new beginning and glory to Malaysia's badminton?

Well I see a ray of light through our Malaysian Skywalker as he makes it to the Semi's after defeating Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-9 and 21-11. I believe Chong Wei is in great form and confidence looking at his results against Sony. I think he will meet Bao Chun Lai in the Semi's and it will be a difficult game for Chong Wei to overcome. May the force be with him! I believe that playing Chun Lai in the Semi's would be a good warm up for Chong Wei's finals against Lin Dan. His Semi’s game would help him adapt to the Chinese crowd who will be against him during the game. I’m pretty positive that Chon Wei can win Chun Lai. What is important is for Skywalker to remain focused in the final game against Lin Dan and he should not let the crowd and the pressure gets to his head. Playing Lin Dan is never an easy task for any player, it is like playing Federer in a Tennis finals. But saying that, with the new points system, anything can happen; it’s not an easy task but I believe he can do it. If he does that I think young Skywalker will win our first ever Gold Medal and restore glory to the Malaysian Badminton team.

As much as the "force" tells me that there is a strong chance Lee "Skywalker" Chong Wei to win, there are questions running through my head. Why is there only one Malaysian player in the Semi's? Look at China; they have 2 men’s singles, 2 men’s doubles, and 2 women’s singles that have a good chance for the gold. Indonesia too has a good Men's Doubles; Mix Doubles & Women's singles players lined up for medals this Olympics. I think our Sports Minister or BAM should really look at our current system we’re implementing. We can learn a thing or two how China and Indonesia run their badminton programs so that we can learn a thing or two and prepare for the coming Olympics. We should also learn from the international professional football teams or professional tennis players on how they develop and manage talents in their countries. Let’s hope that there would be a re-structure happening soon in BAM to address these matters. On the other hand, do feel free to post comments on how Malaysia should move forward in Badminton..

Don’t forget to catch the LIVE badminton action here.

May the force be with you!

Anticipation, Predictions and Forecast

Anticipation, Predictions and Forecast: The 3 important key elements I've learnt from a former great player who I had the honor to learn from when I was 15 years old.

During one of our regular training (normally on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday) sessions at the Selangor Badminton Hall (SBA), a 50+ year old man came by to pay my coach CIKU a visit and to have a have a workout while he was at it. We were doing our regular drills and sparring before we played a game or two.

After our drills and sparring session, our coach requested us to play a doubles game with this 50+ year old man. My partner Gnana Easwaran and myself went straight into the court to play the game and in our minds, we thought it was going to be an easy game. During the game we found it amusing that we had to struggle at the start of the game. This 50+ year old man was actually giving us difficult game... He took all our shots and he returned the shots to difficult places to retrieve. We had a good game and even though we won, this 50+ year old player thought us these 3 words as per the topic says. After the game he taught us the key to playing against us was to anticipate, predict and forecast our next shots.

We anticipated and moved to the spots the opponents would hit as they hit the shot; we predicted the shots they would use and we always did a forecast of our next opponents. It’s like a guessing game of poker too which is why I feel badminton is a complete sport. The advice he gave us helped us change our game which led us to win the Under 15 MSSD & MSSS (the state and district) doubles titles. At that year I partnered Chan Chong Ming at the MSSM (Malaysian Schools Meet) and surprisingly we won the MSSM too.

You must be wondering who this player is as much as I wondered when we played against him. This veteran player is Tan Aik Huang (picture on the right; source bbc.co.uk) the former Malaysia great who won the All England in 1966 and many other tournaments during his peak.

With the long and winding intro to the story, it brings me to who do you think will reach the Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Singles, Women's Doubles & Mix Doubles Finals? My predictions are as follows what are yours? Would be great to see how many of these 10 predictions are spot on! :)

SmashingMark's Predictions

Men's Singles: Lin Dan (Chi) vs Lee Chong Wei (M'sia)

Men's Doubles: Koo Kien Keat, Tan Boon Heong (M'sia) vs Fu Haifeng, Cai Yun (Chi)

Women's Singles: Xie Xingfang (Chi) vs Rasmussen Tine (Dmk)

Women's Doubles: Yang Wei, Zhang Jiewen (Chi) vs Du Jing, Yu Yang (Chi)

Mix Doubles: Widianto Nova, Natsir Liliyana (Ind) vs Robertson Nathan, Emms Gail (Eng)

As you can see, I've predicted that there will be a Chinese player in all finals except the Mix Doubles. From a newspaper I read today which Li Yongbo has said that (the head coach of China), if China doesn't win 3 gold’s out of the 5 means they have failed. I bet that helps ease the pressure to the players and adds more egos to his name. I do hope to see the rest of the world give China a run in all badminton events and I’ll be so looking forward to see Yongbo's face when they don't win 3 gold medals. After all, they are the favorites and they have the home crowd behind them, but in the new 21 points system, anything can happen.

Do share with me your predictions...

Ciao da mao!

The Badminton Battle Dome

Two days to the start of the Biggest... I mean BIGGEST, badminton tournament ever in 2008... With a total of 172 players (86men and 86 ladies) registered for this coming tournament, I believe this time around there would be tons of exciting and memorable moments for us spectators and for the players.

Many of you have already seen how the Football, Aquatic and basketball stadiums look like. Since there is not much seen or heard about the badminton stadium, I figured why not just talk a little about the badminton arena where the badminton warriors clash head to heads for the ultimate badminton glory.

Venue: Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium
Location: Beijing University of Technology
Total Seating: 6,900 pax
Total land surface: 22,269 sq m

3D Birds eye view.. Looks very impressive for a badminton stadium.

Inside view of the courts, seating area and the ceiling.

The stadium looks really huge from the outside; however it’s sad to see that only 6,900 people can watch the finals in there. I was hoping that, from the outer look of the stadium, it would fit 10,000 - 15,000. Well, good side about the 6,900 seating space is that when Lee Chong Wei plays any Chinese players, the taunting will not be that bad :) The rubber courts should be the standard one used for all major tournaments and so would the shuttles. The only thing that the players should worry about would be the lighting and the wind.

According to Rexy Minaky (Malaysia's doubles coach) in the NST, "The players are fine with the lighting and were only little concern with the wind. BUT all players will face similar conditions so we all just have to accept these things." I do agree that wind would be a factor in any big stadiums plus it will be even a bigger factor since it’s a new stadium. I like what Rexy said about all players will be facing similar conditions... This reminds me of what we were taught before by CIKU and my dad - "your opponents will play in the same courts as you and in the same conditions, so if you want to win, stay focused on the game and not on the excuses."

Will we see the winds change powers away from China at the badminton courts? We'll just have to wait and see who will be Kings and Queens to rule the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium.

Ciao da mao

Malaysia, Badminton and the Olympics

What's with Malaysians, Badminton and the Olympics?

The Olympic Dream = Badminton, badminton, badminton.. To the world, badminton may seem to be just another small time sport and many I bet do not know what badminton is... To us Malaysians, badminton is a game widely played and followed... It is like football to Brazilians and NBA to the Americans. To me, badminton is one of the most exciting sports in the world; I think it’s great as it involves mental and physical strength which has various elements such as smashes, drop shots, net plays, and trick shots. I love this game..

I grew up playing the game and when I was a kid. I had a dream - like any other kid, I wanted to represent Malaysia (well as I said I had a dream :P ). Growing up playing the game, I have learnt many things and had so many wonderful experiences (I grew up playing with some famous players you might know: Chan Chong Ming, Wong Mei Choo, Woon Sze Mei, Ong Soon Hock, Gnana Easwaran, Ho Sze Ken and many more). There were many parts in this journey which I will share and relate to in today's game.

What I'm looking forward is the badminton Beijing Olympics 2008 which would start on the 9th of Aug. This time around, Malaysia seems to be well prepared and it looks like there is hope for GOLD... Yes there is hope people!! I believe there is a strong chance for us to win Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. If not 2 medals the least. I believe it’s time we move from silver and bronze medal achievement of Razif and Jalani Sidek, Soon Kit and Kim Hock to the new heroes of Malaysia.

As my coach (CIKU as we all call him) would always say, “train hard, smart and train yourself for the most extreme situations you may or may not face for the tournament”. This is what the Malaysian team have been doing. In preparation for the Olympics, our Malaysian team had spent many weeks and months training to win the Gold in China... I've managed to find some clips of training done by our Malaysian players on you tube which I think may interest ya (some videos are from 07 and some from 08).. enjoys!

Wong Mew Choo – Defensive training drill against 2 players. A routine done whereby two opponents on the opposite site, drill down the shuttle (either a smash or a drop) to Mei Choo who then has to defend the smash/chop/drop and put the shuttle as close as possible to the net. She then practices her net shots which will help her change the defense to attack. Check it out... Some pretty good net shots and defense from her..

I think she stands a good chance for the Semi's and hopefully help Malaysia bring back the Bronze medal.

Tan Boon Heong-Koo Kien Keat - This is a 2007 video whereby you can catch the Malaysian team practicing their doubles play against 3 players. This routine is done with the objective of improving the pairs attack, defense and speed as the pair has to try to win as many rallies againts their opponents.

I think they stand a good chance to win the Gold if they play like how they played in the early 2007. However looking at their recent form, it has dipped due to lack of confidence or lack of mental strength. I would pick them for Silver this time around.

Lee Chong Wei - Our best bet for the Gold. He's in superb form these days with Misbun doing a great job in training him. He's mentally focused, physically fit, has accurate strokes, plays with loads of brains, great movement around the court and he has won Lin Dan in the past 2 outings. History in the making for Malaysia if he's on form. Check out his video to see how he pushes himself during training.

I will be posting more lining up to the Olympics and more insights on the Badminton Journey in China. So Stay Tuned peeps! Till then..

Ciao da mao

*Source of Picture's above: Thank you thestar.com.my