Coaches satisfied with Malaysia Tigers performance in Axiata Cup semi-final – Badminton News
The Malaysian Tigers managed to win confidence of their coaches despite of losing to Indonesia Garuda in first leg of Axiata Cup semi-final on March 30, 2012.
The first-string Malaysian team knelt down against their opponents after reading 2-1 score in Indonesia’s favour in the end.
The World Number 28 Daren Liew entered on the court as first Malaysian singles in absence of World Number one Lee Chong Wei and his opponent former World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat relished this opportunity.
The higher ranked Taufik bagged the first match point for his country with a straight-set 21-19 and 21-9 victory.
It seems the singles coach Rashid Sidek was mentally prepared for this loss and looked satisfied with his shuttlers’ performances.
The coach appreciated his shuttlers for putting up a good show in the first leg and hoped they will show their elevated craft in second round of the semi-finals.
Rashid said, “We wanted to win in Jakarta but it looks like the Indonesians are simply too strong. But it’s not too bad ... we’re still happy to get a point because it gives us hope for the return leg.”
The second blow was when the doubles experts Goh V. Shem-Lim Khim Wah went down to rivals Hendra Setiawan-Mohd Ahsan.
The losing contenders were being preferred over the scratch pair Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and the doubles head coach justified his decision to shuffle the pairs by saying that he wanted to throw a chance to V. Shem-Khim Wah to gain some experience.
Kim Her said, “We wanted to get more experience for Lim and Goh. Koo and Tan will likely to play in the second leg. But we’ll see.”
Later in the second singles game, the national number three Hafiz Hashim gave the Malaysians some reason to smile by beating Sony Dwi Kuncoro with 21-13 and 21-19 score on the board.
Malaysia certainly felt the absence of their maestro Chong Wei as their other shuttlers could not stand against the star-studded opponent team Indonesia Garuda.
The national singles coach Rashid Sidek admitted that a surprise return is expected from Chong Wei in the return leg as he has got reasonable resting period.
The second leg of the semi-final will be played in Kuala Lumpur on April 1, 2012.
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