Rashid Sidek urges his players to shoulder their responsibilities – Badminton News
The singles head coach of Malaysia Rashid Sidek wants his shuttlers to turn their bitter past into a better future and he urged them to shoulder their responsibilities in the semi-finals of Axiata Cup, starting from March 30, 2012.
The four semi-finalists are Malaysia Tigers, Malaysia Leopards, Indonesia Garuda and Indonesia Rajawali. The semi-finals will be played on home and away basis in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
The semi-final round of the first million-dollar team event Axiata Cup will see Malaysia Tigers locking horns with Indonesia Garuda and Malaysia Leopards taking on Indonesia Rajawali.
Malaysia Tigers has a tough trial as they will be up against the prime shuttlers like former World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, the World Number nine Simon Santoso and reigning Olympic champion pair Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan.
The National singles chief coach thinks that the top Malaysian shuttlers Hafiz Hashim and Daren Liew will have to prove their worth in absence of the badminton ace Lee Chong Wei in the semi-finals.
Rashid said, "The other players have to buck up and prove themselves. Overall, there are many reasons to be pleased but the fact is we lost. We have to plan how we are going to tackle the semis."
Earlier, the biggest hope of the country in Axiata Cup the Malaysia Tigers knelt down against Indonesia’s back-up squad and it left many questions about their performance in upcoming encounter with top Indonesian shuttlers.
The badminton guru Rashid Sidek admired the court craft of those junior contenders but now he is confident that his players will rise from the dust against the top class opponents.
The Coach said, "The Indonesians surprised us with their line-up. We may have lost to their second team but there is no reason why we cannot beat their first team."
Meanwhile, their B team the Malaysia Leopards, which comprises young talent like Misbun Ramdan Misbun, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and the World Junior champion duo Nelson Heg-Teo EeYi, will meet the Indonesia Rajawali in the semi-finals of Axiata Cup.
The richest team event of badminton history is offering $100,000 to the semi-finalists while an attractive amount of $400,000 will be offered to the winner of this event.
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