Thomas Cup Qualifying Round: Hendrawan optimistic for an elevated performance from his shuttlers
National coach of Men’s Singles back-up shuttlers in Malaysia, Hendrawan is confident that his players will play top quality badminton and will earn their points in the Thomas Cup Qualifying Round, which will start from Monday, February 13, in Macau.
According to Hendrawan, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, Daren Liew and Mohd Arif Abdul Latif are the shuttlers who will play the as second and third Singles in this team-event tournament. He is quite optimistic for good results from the players under his charge.
The World Number One, Lee Chong Wei, will play the first Men’s Singles fight in both group matches against Hong Kong and South Korea. He is expected to win against the top shuttlers of both countries.
However, in the second and third Singles, Korea seems better on paper as they have better shuttlers in this category.
Hendrawan said that Hafiz, who is currently World Number 33, will deliver expected performance as he is very committed in training sessions and is determined not to let down his team.
According to the coach, Hafiz is serious in getting good result in the qualifying round matches of Thomas Cup Finals.
Hendrawan said, "Hafiz has been training with us for the last two weeks and he is different now. He has the hunger and wants to win matches for us in the qualifying rounds. He is very serious in training and wants to prove a point to everyone that he is in the team on merit.”
Nevertheless, the coach said that Arif and Daren need to be at their best if anyone of both players gets a chance to play the decisive battle.
The coach also appreciated that Hafiz wants to reduce pressure from both back-up shuttlers by winning his Men’s Singles fight.
The coach said, "Daren or Arif must win if our matches go to third singles but if Hafiz wins, we could win before that. Hafiz has been talking about taking the pressure off the younger players and this is a good sign he wants to stand up and be counted.”
The qualifying-round of Thomas Cup Finals will start from Monday and Malaysian shuttlers need to deliver their best if they want to win against the teams of Hong Kong and South Korea.
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