Badminton Tournament - Macau Open

Can the Malaysians continue their gallant assault on this tournament?

The Quarter Finals of the still ongoing Macau Open have spelled nothing but good results for the future of Malaysian badminton. With the triumph of the Malaysian Juniors, particularly Chung Chiat Khoo and Mohd Razif Abdul Latif, who deserve a mention for defeating more experienced Japan Open runners up Alvent Yulianto and Luluk Hadianto, this certainly signals great things for Malaysian badminton. As previously mentioned, all the Malaysian juniors that lost to more experienced players did so respectably, with respectable scores, instead of the usual expected trashing. This certainly shows that Malaysian not only has great talent for its future, but it also signifies the readiness of the juniors in their next assignment - the World Junior Championships.
Indeed, it would appear that the only 'major' casualty in today's quarter finals is the loss of Roslin Hashim to 2005 World Champion Taufik Hidayat. However, Roslin deserves credit for putting up a great fight, but eventually succumbing to the pressure of the great Taufik. Major credit to Wong Choong Hann, who defied all odds to carry on Malaysia's challenge in Men's Singles, by upsetting the more fancied (both in terms of skills and the number of female fans) Bao Chunlai. This directly reminds me of the 2002 Thomas Cup semifinals, where the Malaysian Singles players fought with everything they had to proceed to the finals; and indeed the irony being that the previously unheard of Hafiz Hashim defeated Bao Chunlai in the second singles, a crucial turning point of the tie.

However, it would be too boisterous of me to claim that Malaysia is now the new badminton powerhouse. At the risk of contradicting myself, I would like to see Malaysia perform in the later stages of this tournament, and all other tournaments for this matter, before I consider Malaysia as the new badminton powerhouse. China's golden boy Lin Dan did not participate in this tournament, which certainly lowered the odds; however, one could reason that Malaysian ace Lee Chong Wei too, did not participate.

As usual, good luck to all Malaysia players tomorrow, and I hope they can continue our assault on the the titles offered

MALAYSIA BOLEH