The day we lost the Thomas Cup Group tie to Japan, I know that there is no way we can win the Thomas Cup even though we may get into the semi-final. Our weakness was clearly exposed; we were over-depending on Lee Chong Wei and the first double pair of Koo and Tan. We then needed to steal a point from the second and third single or the second double, which in my opinion, was an uphill task. That was the plan, one and only plan, no other options, that’s best we have.
But when we defeated Denmark in the quarter final, everybody got excited again. Our faithful badminton fans thought that our players can create another miracle by defeating China in the semi final and go all the way to lift the Thomas Cup just like we did it 18 years ago. Sometimes, too much of optimism doesn’t seem to be good as higher expectation may lead to greater disappointment. Lee Chong Wei went into the first match against his nemesis Lin Dan of China thinking that he must win or else there is no way we can win. Just like when he was fighting against Lin Dan in the Olympic, the pressure was too great for him to win our first ever gold medal, he failed miserably. There rest was history.
Watching Korean girls fighting the Chinese in the Uber Cup final this afternoon was very enjoyable, nail-biting and emotional arousing. I was supporting the Koreans, hoping them to stop the domination of the Chinese. I supposed many local fans in the Bukit Jalil Stadium were also cheering for the Korean girls, as most of the fans could be fed up with the domination of Chinese players in the sports.
One thing that we can learn from the Korean is their fighting spirit, the never say die attitude. If we go and fight the top rank player with shaky legs and upside down stomach, surely we are going to fail miserably, just like how our players went down to the Chinese players in the semi final. We lost 3-0, all straight sets, apart from Wong Chong Han fought a good battle in the first game against Chen Jin, Lee Chong Wei and Koo/Tan never looked like they were fighting, they were merely returning the shuttles and made countless unforced errors, there were no fighting, I didn’t enjoy the game at all, I shouted out loud, hey come on, fight-lah, lose also never-mind. The Korean girls fought like lioness, they were in the right frame of mind to crack the great wall and to terminate the Chinese 12-year domination in the Uber Cup and they did it in style, they make history. I hope our players can learn something from the Korean girls.
Tomorrow I will be cheering for the Indonesian in the Thomas Cup final.
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