The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Khe Wei thanks secret recipe for speedy recovery
- Rashid wants shuttlers to stay focused ahead of world meet
- KLHC need early goal to ease into final
| Khe Wei thanks secret recipe for speedy recovery Posted: 11 May 2013 06:14 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: When national doubles shuttler Woon Khe Wei came down with an archilles heel injury and confined to home for some time last year, her mother Jenny Lee, brewed sweet potato leaf soup to help her recover. "She fed me everyday with it. In fact, every morning she will take the trouble to do it. I am not a fan of sweet potato leaf but my mom said that it was good for me," said Khe Wei, recalling the difficult moments in her career last year. "Now, even when I am not sick, she still prepares it for me," said the petite Khe Wei. Thanks to her mother's love and support during the most trying time of her career and together with Khe Wei's diligence during her rehabilitation programme, she returned to the court in March for the All-England tournament after three months of inactivity. And within a month – a breakthrough quarter-final finish at the All-England, a quarter-final appearance at the Swiss Open and making the final in the New Zealand Open – she and partner Vivian Ho sealed a ticket to their maiden World Championships in Guan–gzhou from Aug 5-9. And now, standing tall at their best world ranking of 15th spot in the world, hopes are high on the country's top women's pair to defy the odds during the Sudirman Cup at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from May 19-26. The 24-year-old Khe Wei is happy to have made a remarkable return in her badminton career. And who do you think was her pillar of strength in the pursuit of her career – none other than her loving mother. And today being Mother's Day, Khe Wei enthusiastically declared: "I really appreciate my 52-year-old mother for playing a big role in my career. She has always been there for me. In fact, every time when I travel abroad, she will give me an ang pow. She works together with my father in a hardware shop. I know it is her savings. The amount varies every time but I get more when she is happy," laughed Khe Wei again. "She keeps track of all my achievements and collects all the paper cuttings. Most importantly, she is always there during my ups and downs. I remember in Decem–ber when I could not even walk, she helped me to move about." Khe Wei knows that she will never be able to repay all that her mother had done for her but she is determined to make her "best friend" happy with more good results in the sport. For a start, she is hoping to get her act right on home soil this year. She did not compete in the Malaysian Open Super Series in January because she was still recovering. In the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold at Stadium Juara in Bukit Kiara last week, second seeds Khe Wei and Vivian's challenge ended prematurely when they lost to Singaporeans Vanessa Neo Yu Yan-Yao Lei in the semi-finals. "The Sudirman Cup will be in Malaysia and I do not want to give another disappointing show on home ground. In the Malaysian Open, Vivian and I played well but we did not have a good finish. The challenge during the Sudirman Cup will be tougher but we hope to be ready," she said. Malaysia are in Group C with Germany and Taiwan. "We will be the underdogs against all the teams but I believe that we have a 50-50 chance against players in our group ties. In the knockout stages, we may meet top teams like China, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan – depending on the draw – but we are ready to face the more fancied pairs. "We are aware women players are important in the mixed team event. Instead of taking it as a pressure, we will take it as a challenge. We want to do well in front of our home fans," added Khe Wei. |
| Rashid wants shuttlers to stay focused ahead of world meet Posted: 11 May 2013 04:19 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: National singles chief coach Rashid Sidek says Malaysia will not fall victim to the psychological warfare against China ahead of the World Championships in Guangzhou from Aug 5-9. And he has encouraged all his singles players led by world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei to stay focused and not be intimidated. Besides Chong Wei, Malaysia will also be represented by Liew Daren and Chong Wei Feng in the world meet. On Thursday, Badminton World Federation (BWF) had awarded a wild card to four-time world champion Lin Dan to participate in the world meet at their home den. With that decision, China will have an impressive line-up of four men singles representatives. The otheer three are Chen Long, Du Pengyu and Wang Zhengming, who had confirmed their tickets on merit when the one-year qualifying period ended on April. China are the only country to have a maximum of four shuttlers in an event in the tournament so far. But Chong Wei was not happy with the decision to award Lin Dan a wildcard as he felt that the others had worked hard to qualify for the world meet and on top of that, China had already secured three tickets. Rashid believed that China was intimidating their opponents with their huge number of qualifiers. "I was quite surprised when Lin Dan was awarded the wild card. In an indirect way, I believe that his inclusion is meant to distract Chong Wei. They have done it many times to unsettle Chong Wei in the past," said Rashid. "China is hosting it this year and I am sure that they want the title badly to please their home fans. "We are used to this though. I will ensure that our players will not be rattled by the presence of Lin Dan. What is more important is for our players to work on their skill and physical condition and look at ways to beat the Chinese players in their own den. As hosts, they will have home advantage, but we do not want to be worried over that. We will focus on ourselves first." Meanwhile, before the world meet, all the three singles players will compete in the Sudirman Cup from May 19-26 at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil but only Chong Wei is expected to play a more prominent role. Chong Wei will also take part in the Indonesian Open from June 10-16 while Daren and Wei Feng have been entered for the Singapore Open from June 18-23. |
| KLHC need early goal to ease into final Posted: 11 May 2013 06:14 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: KL Hockey Club (KLHC) need to get off to a strong start in the second leg semi-finals of the Premier Division in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) if they want to ease into the final over a desperate Sapura at the National Hockey Stadium today. The defending champions hold a two-goal advantage after winning the first leg 3-1. But if Sapura score an early goal, the game may change into a bitter battle for both. KLHC manager George Koshy said they have to go all out to try and wrap up the tie in the first half. "Why make it difficult and give them any chance for a comeback. It is in our hands to win the match and we have all the right players to do it. We need to play like we did in the second half of the first leg," said George. The first leg saw both teams making a fight of it but Sapura failed to capitalise on their early goal as KLHC fought back to win 3-1. Sapura team manager Louis Gregory admits that they have an uphill task and they have only one option – take the fight to the champions. "We cannot afford to sit back and hope to break through with counter attacks. We have to play an open game. Of course, we may start off a bit cautiously but at the end of it we must go forward and get the goals" said Louis. KLHC are on the threshold of a unique record if they make the final on May 19 as it will be their fourth in a row and it will allow them to snatch a record 13th trophy in the MHL since 2006. Sapura, who were overall champions in 2005 and 2006, have good Pakistan players to bank on. Kashif Ali is their top scorer with 17 goals but he can only be effective if the team earn penalty corners. There was none in the first leg and their only goal was scored by Joel van Huizen. KLHC also have good foreign players in Pakistan's Mohamed Imran, Akhtar Ali, Mohamed Umar Bhutta Fareed Ahmad and Wassim Ahmad and Australia Timothy Beavin. These players have blended well with the locals and it has seen them chalk up an unbeaten record thus far. Today's match is most likely to be a formality for the champions unless Sapura can find something extra to turn the tables on the champions. |
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