Thomas Cup Preliminary Round: Team spirit played major role in Malaysia’s success, says Rashid Sidek
Malaysia’s Men’s Singles national coach, Rashid Sidek, said that team spirit played a major role in Malaysia’s success in the Thomas Cup Preliminary Round, which is in progress in Macau.
Malaysian won all matches in the Preliminary Round against Hong Kong, South Korea and India and secured a spot in the Thomas Cup Finals, which will be held in May, at Wuhan, China.
By qualifying for the Finals, the national shuttlers shut the mouth of critics who went on spitting about the vulnerability of national squad, which is no doubt the weakest as compared to Malaysia’s Thomas Cup squads in the history of the event.
However, Malaysian shuttlers turned the tables by beating all opponents and got the prize by securing a place in the Finals.
Rashid is happy and satisfied that all shuttlers played fabulous badminton and lived up to expectations in the tournament and made the nation proud.
While talking about the motivating force behind the success of Malaysian team, the coach expressed that it was the team spirit which helped shuttlers to rise on the occasion.
He said, “Malaysians are known for their strength in the team event and today, our men shuttlers proved it once again. Their team spirit was high and they kept on motivating each other.”
Malaysia is set to face Japan in the semi-final of the tournament and Rashid is contemplating to field back-up shuttlers as there is no pressure on the squad now because they have already achieved their ultimate goal.
He said, “We have achieved our target. It does not matter if we do not win the tournament. We may give the back-up players a chance to play but it will be subject to our coaches’ discussion later.”
In Men’s Singles category, Lee Chong Wei is expected to take rest and the lower ranked shuttlers including, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Daren Liew may take on Japan.
In the category of Men’s Doubles, the top shuttlers Koo Kien Keat – Tan Boon Heong are expected to be replaced by Hoon Thien How – Teo Kok Siang along with Goh V Shem – Lim Khim Wah.
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