Aren't all Malaysians badminton fanatics?

Malaysian Badminton

The nation's no.2 sport

All England 1986

Final: Misbun lt Morten Frost (?)
Final: Razif/Jalani lt Park Joo Bong/Kim Moon Soo
This was the last time until this year that we reached both finals

Thomas Cup 1992

Final: Malaysia 3-2 Indonesia; nuff said

Asian Games 1994

SF: lt South Korea 2-3
Ewe Hock lt Park Sung Woo 3-15, 3-15
K. Muralidesan lt ? 6-15, 7-15
Pang Chen lt Lee Kwang Jin 12-15, 12-15
So we only got bronze
In other SF, the Indons crushed China 5-0, then in the final thrashed Korea also 5-0, where Ardy Wiranata beat Park Sung Woo 15-8, 15-10. Ewe Hock, what happened???

Thomas Cup 1994 (at Istora Senayan, Jakarta)

Group match: Malaysia 3-2 South Korea
Rashid bt Kim Hak-Kyun 18-13, 15-8
Soon Kit/Beng Kiang bt Kim Dong-Moon/Yoo Yong-Sung 15-3, 15-1
Ewe Hock lt Park Sung Woo 16-18, 15-6, 16-18; led 12-7 in 1st set, 13-8 in 3rd set.
Kim Hock/Kim Her bt ?/? 15-8, 15-12; by now we were leading 3-1
Kok Keong lt Lee Kwang Jin 15-12, 4-15, 5-15

Group match: Malaysia 5-0 Thailand

Rashid bt Sompol Kukasemkij 15-11, 15-7
Group match: Malaysia (seed 3) 4-1 Denmark (seed 2)
Rashid bt Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen 5-3 rtd; Thomas was leading 3-0, suddenly lower back pain became unbearable
Soon Kit/Beng Kiang lt Jon-Holst Christiensen/Michael Sogaard 14-18, 2-15; What happened guys?
Ewe Hock bt Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen 10-15, 15-0, 15-9; the 2nd set lasted what, 5 minutes? Poul-Erik was terribly out of breath
Kim Hock/Kim Her bt Thomas Lund/Jim Laugesen 15-5, 15-17, 15-6; by now we were leading 3-1
Kok Keong bt Soren Nielsen (or was it Peter Espersen?) 2-1

Semifinals: Malaysia 4-1 China

Rashid bt Liu Jun 18-16, 12-15, 15-2; in 63 minutes
Soon Kit/Beng Kiang bt Chen Kang/Chen Hongyong 15-17, 15-6, 15-6; in 65 minutes
Ewe Hock bt Dong Jiong 15-11, 15-6
Kim Hock/Kim Her bt Huang Zhanzhong/Jiang Xin 15-8, 15-10; by now we were leading 4-0!
Kok Keong lt Sun Jun 12-15, 8-15
Other semifinal: Indonesia 4-1 South Korea

Final: Indonesia 3-0 Malaysia

Heryanto Arbi bt Rashid 15-6, 15-11
Rudy Gunawan/Bambang Suprianto bt Soon Kit/Beng Kiang 15-10, 6-15, 15-8
Ardy Wiranata bt Ewe Hock 15-11, 15-5
Amid all the chaos, the other 2 matches were called off

World Championship 1995

1st rnd
Lo Ah Heng lt Darren Hall 3-15, 6-15; a bundle of nerves, cried afterwards
Kantharoopan and Roslin also lost here

3rd rnd

Ewe Hock bt Kim Hak-Kyun 15-11, 15-4
Yong Hock Kin lt Joko Suprianto 15-11, 1-15, 1-15; used up too much energy in 1st set

4th rnd: Ewe Hock lt Peter Lileqvist 15-3, 9-15, 7-15; lost concentration, allowed opponent to slow down rhythm with stroke play

4th rnd: Yap twins lt Lund/Christiensen 9-15, 15-13, 6-15; the Yaps are the national #3 pair
4th rnd: Chan Chia Fong lt Yuliani Sentosa 5-11, 1-11

5th rnd: Rashid bt Ardy Wiranata 6-15, 18-13, 15-5; flashes of brilliance

SF: Soon Kit/Kim Hock lt Ricky/Rexy 8-15, 6-15; the Indons are probably the best combination since Yongbo/Bingyi and Joo Bong/Moon Soo

QF: Rashid lt Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen 10-15, 1-15; could not maintain form

Final

Heryanto Arbi bt Park Sung Woo 15-11, 15-8; match was even but Arbi had better mental strength
Ricky/Rexy bt Lund/Christiensen 15-5, 15-2; the terrible twins are just in a different class

World Cup 95

Rashid won 2/3 group matches, so out he went

SF: Soon Kit/Kim Hock lt Rocky/Rexy 13-18, 9-15; well at least they gave them a harder opposition this time

Final

Joko bt Alan Budi Kusuma 2-1
Ricky/Rexy bt Sakrapee/Pramote 15-4, 15-9

Malaysian Open 95

Roslin lt Kim Hak-Kyun 15-11, 3-15, 6-15
QF: Rashid lt Park Sung Woo 15-11, 11-15, 7-15; Rashid was champ thrice 92-94
Final: Alan Budi Kusuma bt Ardy Wiranata 15-5, 15-8; Arbi lt Alan in SF

SEA Games 95

SF: Rashid lt Ardy Wiranata 11-15, 10-15
SF: Ewe Hock lt Joko 7-15, 7-15; Joko is very fit & did lots of crosscourt smashes while Ewe Hock was wrongfooted many times, got smashed many times, hardly attacked & played stroke style
SF: Soon Kit/Kim Hock bt Kantono/Antonius 15-11, 6-15, 15-7

Final: Soon Kit/Kim Hock bt Rexy/Ricky 15-13, 15-9; YESSSS! Rexy/Ricky looked subdued & were not their usual self. Their defence was surprisingly leaky, sends half court balls which were mercilessly smashed down. Rexy even shook his head at one stage. Hardly attacked - they only smashed once as I saw it. No confidence. The strongest attack & defence in the world just fell apart. Our pair played more consistently & attacked more.

Final: Alan Budi Kusuma bt Ardy Wiranata 15-5, 15-8; Arbi lt Alan in SF

World GP Finals 95

Rashid bt Lee Kwang Jin 2-0
Rashid bt Heryanto Arbi 18-17, 15-12; 1st victory in 9 meetings
Ewe Hock lt Hermawan Susanto 15-4, 6-15, 6-15
Soon Kit/Kim Hock lt Kantono/Antonius 15-6, 3-15, 4-15

Taiwan Masters 1996

Final: Rashid lt Dong Jiong 11-15, 4-15; on the way Rashid beat Sun Jun and Hermawan Susanto; in the final he found the pace just too hot to handle

Thomas Cup Qualifying Rounds 1996

SF: Malaysia 4-1 South Korea
Rashid beat Park Sung Woo 15-12, 15-4
Soon Kit/Kim Hock beat Yoo Yung Sun/Ha Tae Kwan 15-6, 15-5
Ewe Hock bt Lee Kwang Jin 15-12, 15-4
Beng Kiang/Kim Her lt Kim Dong Moon/Park Joo Bong 5-15, 6-15
Pang Chen bt Kim Hak-Kyun 15-2, 15-1; the Korean warned for toying around

Final: Malaysia 3-2 China

Rashid bt Dong Jiong 10-15, 18-17, 15-3; even though trailed 14-16 in 2nd set! Found 2nd wind in decider;
Soon Kit/Kim Hock bt Huang Zhanzhong/Jiang Xin 15-6, 15-9
Ewe Hock lt Sun Jun 13-15, 15-6, 13-15; Sun Jun played at frantic pace. Ewe Hock: "I tried my best"
Beng Kiang/Kim Her lt Ge Cheng/? 13-15, 15-6, 13-15
Pang Chen bt Yu Lizhi 15-10, 17-14

All England 1996

SF
Rashid bt Lee Kwang Jin 15-6, 15-5
Soon Kit/Kim Hock bt Lund/Christiensen 15-12, 18-16; a titanic battle which lasted 62 mins; Lund was warned for swearing
Finals
Rashid lt Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen 7-15, 6-15 in 30 mins; the experts say Poul-Erik used mixed-doubles strokes, which kept the shuttle low and increased the pace of the match which didn't suit Rashid's style; Rashid sent too many balls long while Poul-Erik was very accurate.
Soon Kit/Kim Hock lt Ricky/Rexy 6-15, 5-15; they were just too good for us

Thomas Cup 1996

Our worst nightmare came true, failing to enter semis for the first time since 1984.

Group matches

Malaysia 2-3 South Korea
Rashid lt Park Sung Woo 10-15, 9-15; bad omen, Park was a different player from the one Rashid beat in the qualifier
Soon Kit/Kim Hock lt Park Joo Bong/Kim Dong Moon 9-15, 11-15; what a disgrace?! The world No.1 losing in straight games to an unranked pair!
Ewe Hock bt Lee Kwang Jin 2-1; Ewe Hock has good fighting spirit
Beng Kiang/Kim Her bt Yoo Yong Sun/Ha Tae Kwan 2-1
Pang Chen lt Ahn Jae Chang 9-15, 5-15; what an anti-climax. I had expected Pang to come out like a roaring tiger but instead I saw a timid little cat. His stroke style will have to go if he wants to make any headway into the world's elite.

Malaysia 5-0 Hong Kong, winning all matches in straight sets, highest points conceded in a set: 7.

Malaysia 1-4 Denmark
Rashid lt Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen 18-16, 13-15, 6-15; the final set was a huge disappointment as I had expected Rashid to be the fitter player. But Larsen proved to be an extremely tough customer with punishing placing shots.
Soon Kit/Kim Hock bt Jon-Holst Christiensen/J. Laugesen 15-0, 12-15, 15-7; we should've finished this off quickly after a promising start, but squandering chances are what we're good at
Ewe Hock lt Thomas-Stuer Lauridsen 12-15, 6-15; Ewe Hock did everything possible but Lauridsen's steep smashes just killed him off.
Beng Kiang/Kim Her lt Henrik Svarrer/? 13-18, 15-7, 1-15; we beat them in straight sets at the Korean Open, what happened in the third set? We needed to beat these guys in straight sets!
Pang Chen lt Peter Rasmussen 12-15, 11-15; pointless match

SF: Indonesia 4-1 Korea (only Joo Bong remained undefeated), Denmark 3-2 China (courtesy of Hoyer-Larsen coming back from the dead against Dong Jiong)

F: Indonesia 5-0 Denmark; Joko made sure no such comeback for Hoyer-Larsen this time; Ricky/Rexy remained the greatest, Heryanto outsmashed Stuer-Lauridsen and not even Rasmussen could salvage a consolation point. For the record, Indonesia also retained the Uber Cup when their girls beat China 4-1.

Postmortem: we lacked the team spirit this time, and couldn't lift our game when it really mattered. But it seemed just yesterday when we beat the Koreans 3-2 and the Danes 4-1 in '94. The tables have totally turned against us this time. Prakash Padukone said: "your shuttlers are spoilt brats. It would do them a world of good if they failed to make the semis." Well, hopefully we'd come back very strongly in '98, with Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook and Ismail Samad in the lineup.

Atlanta Olympics 1996

We did better than expected, chalking up a silver and a bronze.

Singles

Rashid beat Joko and Heryanto. Lost to Dong Jiong in the semis. Just couldn't cope with Dong's speed and confidence. It is clear that Rashid could never match Dong's incredible agility on court.
Final: Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen psychologically destroyed Dong Jiong, who looked a pale shadow of the player who beat Rashid in the semis. Proved once again he's a worthy successor to Morten Frost.

Doubles

Beng Kiang/Kim Her did well to enter semis, but disappointed me with their performance against Ricky/Rexy. 3 & 5! Pathetic. Also should've won the bronze. In contrast, Soon Kit/Kim "Botak" Hock almost beat Ricky/Rexy. I thought they've nailed it when winning the 1st set & leading in 2nd, but nice try lads...

Malaysian Open 1996

The emergence of Jason Wong, who seems to have Foo Kok Keong's never-say-die attitude.

Singles

One by one Malaysia's top seniors and juniors are being knocked down like bowling pins. Kantha lost 4 & 6 to Indra Wijaya, Jason lost 5 & 6 to Luo Yigang, Ismail lost earlier to Jason due to his fitness, or the lack of it.
Final: Ewe Hock bagged his first major title by defeating Indra Wijaya.

US Open 1996

Once again it's drummed into us that only Rashid & Soon Kit/Kim Hock can be counted upon in international meets. Never mind Rashid was thrashed 3 & 3 by Hoyer-Larsen (semis) and SK/KH stunned by Chandra Wijaya/Sigit (final). Ewe Hock still doesn't know how to handle the best, and Tan Fook/Wan Wah still have a mountain to learn. As for the rest...

World GP Finals 96

It's dawned on everyone that Rashid will never be world champion as long as he's mentally weak. Losing when you're leading 14-9 is inexcusable. Even Misbun admitted that Rashid has all it takes to be the best save for his mind. The same applies to Soon Kit/Kim Hock. Ricky/Rexy turned on the style when it mattered most. Straight sets, 4 & 9, no fight, it wasn't good enough. Kim Hock, you picked the worst moment to be erratic. To win titles, you got to win the final, not just the semifinal. Same story as US Open: Ewe Hock & Tan Fook/Wan Wah still not threatening the best.

Singles: Rashid won 2/3 (lost to Sun Jun 0-2 so out he went)

Final: Fung Permadi beat an injured Sun Jun 15-12, 15-8

Doubles

Group match: Soon Kit/Kim Hock beat Ricky/Rexy 7-15, 15-3, 18-16
SF: Soon Kit/Kim Hock beat D. Kantono/Antonius 15-5, 15-6
Final: Soon Kit/Kim Hock lt Ricky/Rexy 4-15, 9-15

Asia Cup 1997

Final: 0-3 Indonesia (Jakarta). Well, Ewe Hock showed good fighting spirit, Pang Chen surprised me with his overall good performance and even scratch pair Wong Choon Hann/Lee Chee Leong gave world no.1 pair Sigit/Chandra Wijaya a run for their money.

All England 1997

Forget about ever winning this title Rashid. Losing to Heryanto Arbi in the 3rd round just brings home the fact that Malaysia's best is not good enough. Ewe Hock & Pang Chen: not abysmal performances, but simply not good enough against the best.

World Championship 1997

Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook, Ong Ewe Hock all fell like bowling pins in the early rounds. But Wong Choon Hann impressed me with his lack of respect for Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen. And the fact that our top pair is suffering from "scared to win" syndrome is hammered home in the final. Leading 17-14 in the 2nd set after winning the first 15-8 against world no.1 Budiarto Sigit/Chandra Wijaya (both 21), they managed to lose it 17-18 and in the rubber went out tamely 7-15. C'mon Soon Kit, you've been playing in the world championships since 1987 and Kim Hock (who played much better) since 95. Sigit and Wijaya are in their first ever WC final, both still very young at 21 but they've got nerves of steel! Prince Andrew ("hard luck") and Morten Frost's comforting words ("they were the best pair in the championship") will never take away the pain, which is worse than the Atlanta Olympics finals loss to Rexy/Ricky. Scant consolation is the fact that Soon Kit/Kim Hock beat Ricky/Rexy (defending world champs - semis) and Jon-Holst Christiensen/ Michael Sogaard (QF) en route to the final. Conclusion: there goes our nation's chance of having our first ever world champs at the senior level. Hope Jeremy Gan/Chan Chong Ming will get it in the future.

Thomas Cup 1998
1st round:
4-1 Korea; only Korea's 1st doubles (All-England champs) proved to be tough nut to crack.
5-0 Holland
1-4 Indonesia; both didn't field best lineup. Hock Kin played 1st singles, lost to Hendrawan 1-2. Roslin beat Marleve Mainaky 2-0, to the surprise to everyone.

semifinals: 3-2 Denmark.
Ewe Hock lt Peter Gade Christensen (world no.1) 7-15, 10-15 in 38 mins.
Soon Kit/Choong Tan Fook beat Jon Holst-Christensen & Michael Sogaard (world no.1 pair) 15-11, 12-15, 18-14 in 75 mins.
Yong Hock Kin beat Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (Olympic Champion) 15-11, 14-18, 15-11 in 71 minutes.
Yap Kim Hock/Tan Kim Her lt Jens Eriksen/Jesper Larsen (world no.10) 16-17, 12-15 in 50 minutes.
Mohd Roslin Hashim beat Kenneth Jonassen (world no.11) 15-18, 15-5, 15-8 in 65 minutes.
A titanic battle between 2 giants of the sport. In the end, we triumphed. Well done boys! At first I thought Denmark was going to win the cup, when they dismissed China 3-2 in the preliminaries, where Peter Gade overwhelmed the speedy Sun Jun 15-3, 17-16 and Kenneth Jonassen beat Dong Jiong 15-6, 2-15, 15-8 in the decider. But I was quite surprised the way Denmark's 1st pair (Jon Holst & M. Sogaard) went out against Liu Yong & Yu Jinhao 0-2. Other semis: Indonesia tore China to pieces to get 3 straight points after Heryanto lost to Sun Jun 18-17, 4-15, 1-15 in the 1st singles. Then, Ricky/Rexy, Hendrawan and Chandra/Sigit turned on the style to batter China to submission in a mere hour and a half's worth of gameplay. The average point the Chinese got per set during this remarkable time span is 5!

final: 2-3 Indonesia.
Ewe Hock beat Heryanto Arbi 18-14, 15-7 in 50 minutes.
Soon Kit/Kim Hock lt Ricky/Rexy (always their bogeymen) 3-15, 15-18 in 63 minutes.
Hock Kin lt H. Hendrawan 14-18, 15-10, 5-15 in 69 minutes. If Hock Kin had won this one...
Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook lt Chandra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto 11-15, 12-15 in 45 minutes. They tried, but the superiority of the opposition was too much to bear.
Mohd Roslin Hashim beat Joko Suprianto 15-10, 11-15, 15-2 in 79 minutes. Consolation: Roslin remained unbeaten.

Well well...we almost made it guys! Morten Frost: "we lost to a better side". Watch out for TC 2000.

Pitiful standard of Sabah badminton - Sabah Open 1994

Early rounds: Koo Yong Chut bt Edmund Tubong (former Sabah #1) 15-2, 15-4

? bt Wong Hock Fah (Sabah #1) 15-4, 15-7
Singles final: Ewe Hock bt K. Muralidesan 15-11, 15-4
Doubles final: Kim Hock/Kim Her bt Soon Kit/Beng Kiang 15-7, 17-18, 15-7

Azhawari Osman, new State no.1 singles player.

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