The Asian Games in Doha concluded a few days back and it has been a roller coaster ride for some of our Malaysian athletes. I had the oppurtunity to watch several games on Astro and I was thrilled when Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong won the Men's Doubles Gold when nobody gave a ghost of a chance to this newly formed pair. It was indeed refreshing to see effort, perseverance and determination from our Malaysian shuttlers. The countless times where the expectations exceeded the end result made me a very sceptical but still a very passionate fan of Malaysian sports. The fact that Kien Keat is a La Sallian (Michaelian) makes it sweeter for those who know what the La Sallian spirit is all about.
Then we have our queen of squash, Nicol David who is proving to be the Roger Federer or Tiger Woods of squash. It is such a rarity where we have a Malaysian athlete who is unparrallel in terms of excellence and commitment. She is the epitome of Malaysian sports. All budding young sportsmen be it in sepak takraw, football, or even hockey shoulld take Nicol as a fine example to follow. I am sure we as Malaysians are truly proud of all her achievements.
Although the Doha Games cannot be concluded as a total failure to the Malaysian contingent, it also cannot be regarded as a total success. We are far off compared to a lot of countries. Even China were not satisfied with their medal haul. Imagine that, 160 ++ gold medals and they are not satisfied. The hunger to succeed is always needed in order to get to the next level. Believe me, if China were to have garnered 200 gold medals in Doha, they would want to get 201 gold medals in Guangzhou. That is success. Never resting on our laurels. We are as good as our last performance. Maybe that is one of the reasons our Malaysian athletes are not achieving what they truly can. They live on one major achievement and just 'chill out' for the remainder of their careers. That's a real shame as we have the ability, the facilities, the support but the only thing that defeats us is our attitude.
When Rexy Mainaky came out and lash at out doubles shuttlers after the Team Event defeat, I was more than willing to agree with him. Besides, why would you want to argue with an Olympic Champion and mutiple World Champion? The good thing about the lashing was we finally landed gold in badminton after 36 years. We pride ourselves as being a superpower in badminton along with China, Indonesia, Korea and Denmark but let's be honest with ourselves, how many major titles have we won compared to these 4 superpowers? The only major titles I can recall would be Hafiz's triumph at All England in 2003 and this recent Asian Games gold. I would hope that Hafiz can bounce back and reproduce the form of 2003 as watching him play in recent times can really make you go bonkers. Brilliant at times and disastrous for stretches of a match.
It was an exciting 15 days of competition. The Olympics is less than 2 years away and it would be truly great if we can produce our first Olympic gold medallist in Beijing. I am an optimist when it comes to sports. Let's do it. Bring on Beijing 2008.
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