KUALA LUMPUR: National badminton chief coach Yap Kim Hock is confident that his charges will return from the Beijing Olympic Games with at least a medal.
That, he said, would be a perfect gift to mark the end of his four-year tenure as Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) chief coach.
When asked what if the team were to return without any medal, Kim Hock said: “In my dictionary, there is no such word as no medal.
“I am quite confident that the team will win a medal – of any colour – this time.”
It’s too cold: Choong Tan Fook taking an ice bath with the help of Lee Wan Wah after their training session at the National Sports Institute in Bukit Jalil yesterday. — IBRAHIM MOHTAR / The StarAs for his future as chief coach, he said: “I will leave it to the BAM management to decide on my fate after the Olympics. For now, I do not want to be distracted.”
Ironically, Kim Hock was in the team who last won medals for Malaysia at the Olympics. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Kim Hock-Cheah Soon Kit won a silver medal while Rashid Sidek took a bronze in the men’s singles.
Malaysia failed to win anything at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games.
This time, hopes are high that the men’s singles players – Lee Chong Wei and Wong Choong Hann – will be able to end the medal drought.
But it is Chong Wei, who won the Singapore Open last month, who is seen as a genuine medal contender.
“The race is quite open in the men’s singles event and I think Chong Wei stands a good chance of nailing a medal for us,” Kim Hock said at the training centre in Gymnasium Two in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
He also predicted a tougher time for Malaysia’s two doubles pairs – Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong – to win a medal in Beijing.
He said that China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and South Korea’s Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung were a class above the rest based on recent form.
Kim Hock also expects reigning world champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia to be a big threat “if they can regain their form”.
“Our pairs are the dark horses. Our pairs are not the favourites but they are among those with a shot at winning a medal,” he said.
Kim Hock said that an Olympic medal would be a great accomplishment for him as chief coach.
“Over the last four years, I have experienced many ups and down. The best memories for me as chief coach was seeing Koo and Tan win the gold medals in the Asian Games (Doha in 2006) and emerging as the All-England champions (in 2007).
“But I have had tough times too – like in finding ways to improve the skills of the players and getting the ideal coaches. The most difficult part for me is to manage the people. But it has been a great learning experience.
“The Beijing Games will be the last tournament for me before my contract as chief coach ends. I am dreaming of a medal.”
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