Indonesia will rely on Men’s Doubles in Thomas Cup Final, says Malaysian coach Rashid Sidek
Malaysia’s national coach for Singles Rashid Sidek said that Indonesia will heavily rely on its Men’s Doubles shuttlers as they are strong in the world as compared to Men’s Singles where Simon Santoso and Taufik Hidayat will compete for glory.
Indonesian squad is comprised on experienced shuttlers who can spoil the party of any team in the world on a given day.
However, according to Rashid Men’s Doubles pairs of Indonesia will play major role in the success of the team as they do not have much depth in Men’s Singles category.
The World Number 9 Santoso and number 12 Taufik have been struggling hard in major international tournaments for the last couple of years.
Both can win any player in the world but their chances to beat the top Chinese players are quite meagre.
Nevertheless, in Men’s Doubles category Indonesia have top quality shuttlers who are capable of toppling any opponents in the world.
Rashid said, “Indonesia will be relying on both their doubles and try to steal one point in the singles from Simon Santoso or Taufik Hidayat. We can’t underestimate their younger players at the third singles too.”
However, the coach also said that Denmark have a wonderful team which is balanced in both Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles categories.
He also said that Japan is one of the most improving teams in the arena of badminton as all Japanese shuttlers have been beating many top players on different occasions in major international tournaments.
While talking about Malaysia’s chances in the Thomas Cup Finals, Rashid said that national squad is a blend of senior and inexperienced shuttlers.
He is optimistic that Malaysians will make it to the semi-final of the tournament.
The coach said, “We have a mixed team of seniors and newcomers but I still believe that we have a chance to reach at least the semi-finals. The Thomas Cup has a history of springing upsets.”
China and Korea have wonderful squads along with Indonesia, Denmark, Malaysia and Japan and all these countries are going to battle for glory in Thomas Cup which is set to begin on May 20.
Tags: