Badminton

YAY!! Congrats to our Malaysian badminton team for winning a gold medal =)) Malaysia won 3-1 against India in the finals of the Commonwealth badminton team event. I was actually waiting for the finals to see our players in action. We were already hoping for a few golds in the badminton events and this was one of it!

I watched the game from 9.30pm till over midnight on Friday. The first to play was our mixed doubles. Koo Kien Keat partnering Chin Ee Hui managed to win after the rubber set and it provided confidence to the Malaysian team. Because it was homeground, India did receive a lot of support from the spectators whereas Malaysia just had the support from our own badminton team. However, the team was overjoyed when they won the first game.

Then came our men's singles world number one; Datuk Lee Chong Wei who won in straight sets. I mean it was expected as he is the best! That meant putting Malaysia 2-0 with just one more to win. The Indian player did quite well in the first set with a close fight 21-18 because he found Chong Wei's weak spot and Chong Wei kept doing the same mistake but in the second set he was cleverer and did not fall into the same trap and won 21-7.

Next is the women's singles and representing Malaysia is Wong Mew Choo playing against Saina Nehwal. Saina is ranked third in the world so Mew Choo was the underdog. The first set was a very close fight with Malaysia winning 26-24. I thought this game could go on forever coz it was taking too long. But Saina won the second and third set giving hopes to India. Saina was actually quite good. Mew Choo was the only one who lost in the team event- Twice. Another time was against Singapore. Better luck in the individual event!

Finally, our men's mixed doubles world number one; Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong sealed the deal. They won in straight sets. KKK did many mistakes in the game and it was unbearable to watch because TBH had to keep saving him. TBH's smashes were killers and cannot be taken by the Indian players. Probably Kien Keat was tired as he also played in the mixed but whatever it is, Malaysia still won and obtained the gold medal!

The team was particularly calm during their matches. However I could see the Indian players were quite serious as they might be under pressure to win especially since it was homeground. But silver for them is quite good as most of them are not high ranked.

Anyway hope that we could obtain more golds from our badminton players in the individual event this week.