Olympic Games in Beijing, China

[changtao]

Chong Wei sets up title clash against Lin Dan

LEE Chong Wei made history when he became the first Malaysian badminton singles player to reach an Olympic final at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium last night.

The 26-year-old made sure Malaysia will return home with at least a silver medal after barren outings at the last two Olympics by battling past South Korean Lee Hyun-il 21-18, 13-21, 21-13 in the semi-finals.

Chong Wei has now bettered Rashid Sidek’s bronze medal achievement at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

The men’s doubles pair of Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock also delivered a silver medal for Malaysia that year but tomorrow, Chong Wei has a chance to go one step better when he takes on top seed Lin Dan of China, who beat compatriot Chen Jin 21-12, 21-18.

But that mouth-watering finale almost didn't happened as Hyun-il gave the Malaysian some anxious moments.

Chong Wei gained early control but Hyun-il caught up to 18-20.

But the Malaysian earned victory when his rival lobbed the shuttle wide.

Hyun-il, winner of the Korean and German Opens this year, turned on the power in the second game when he won 11 points in a row to eventually force the match into the rubber game.

In the decided, Chong Wei led 8-1 before the tenacious Korean clawed his way back to 11-15.

But Chong Wei, spurred on by shouts of Malaysia Boleh from the pockets of Malaysian supporters, regained the big lead again.

At 19-11, Chong Wei knew he was on the brink of a famous and historic win.

And when he did get the winning point, Chong Wei collapsed to the ground in sheer joy and relief.

He then got up, ran over and jumped onto his coach Misbun Sidek’s arms.

“The huge pressure is off me! I have made sure of winning at least an Olympic medal. I dedicate this to my coach, who gave everything to prepare me for these Games,” said Chong Wei, who only reached the second round in his Olympic debut in Athens four years ago.

“I knew Hyun-il would not be an easy opponent because he has beaten the top players before. But I pulled it off.”

On losing second game, Chong Wei said he just could not keep up with his opponent.

“He played at a very fast pace and I could not follow him. I made mistakes and I just prepared myself for the final game,” said Chong Wei, who now has a shot at the RM1mil incentive that has been promised by the go~ment for any athlete who returns with an Olympic gold medal.

But more than that, it is his chance to gain Malaysian sporting immortality and bag what many athletes can only dream of.

The partisan crowd will be on Lin Dan’s side tomorrow but one thing is for sure, Malaysians can expect Chong Wei to go all out to bring home Malaysia’s first Olympic gold medal.

As he simply puts it: “I’ll play with my life.”

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Sprint cyclists rewrite national time

THE Malaysian trio of Azizul Hasni Awang, Josiah Ng and Rizal Tisin set a new national record en route to a creditable seventh place finish in the team sprint competition at the Laoshan Velodrome last night.

The Malaysian team clocked 44.725 to smash their previous mark of 45.511 to finish seventh in qualifying out of 13 countries on the opening day of track cycling action.

The previous national record was set at the same venue when the team competed in the World Cup last November. However, Mohd Edrus Yunus was the lead rider then.

Last night, it was double Asian champion Azizul who took off from the starting block.

Josiah continued to set the pace before leaving it to anchor rider Rizal and their time gave them a place against World Cup winners France in the knockout rounds.

In the knockout rounds, the Malaysian trio clocked 44.822 while the French team, comprising Gregory Bauge, Mickael Bourgain and Kevin Sireau, stopped the clock at 43.656 to qualify for the gold medal shoot-out.

Britain, led by double world champion Chris Hoy, beat the French team to the gold later.

The British team clocked 43.128 against the French time of 43.651 while Germany (44.014) edged Australia for the bronze (44.022)

Having finished ahead of teams like the United States, China and Russia, the Malaysian trio have achieved what national coach John Beasley targeted for them and it should whet their appetite to go for individual glory now.

The highly exciting keirin event takes place today and 2004 Athens Olympic finalist Josiah, together with Azizul, will be hoping to set up an all-Malaysian final.

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Nerves get the better of Malaysian archer in quarter-finals

MALAYSIAN archer Cheng Chu Sian experienced the high and low of victory and defeat on the same day yesterday.

In the morning, Chu Sian raised hopes of Malaysia’s first medal of the Games when he scored an upset sudden-death win over South Korea’s Lee Chang-hwan, the Olympic record holder, in the last 16.

Both were tied at 105-105 after the first 12 arrows. In the shoot-out, both scored a nine with the first arrow.

In the second, Chang-hwan went first and again struck a nine.

Chu Sian took aim and hit the centre of the board for the second time in the third-round clash and the arena erupted with joy as the Korean fans were stunned into silence.

Chang-hwan had set the Olympic record of 117 out of a perfect 120 in the early rounds of the individual competition on Wednesday.

Chu Sian must have felt like he was walking on air after that.

Hopes were high when he took on Russia’s Badenov Bair in the quarter-finals in the afternoon.

That’s when he was brought down to earth with a thump. Chu Sian was a bundle of nerves and lost 104-109 to the Russian.

Hopes were high on Chu Sian to break into the semi-finals and a shot at making history but his hopes disappeared when he shot a seven with his first arrow in the second end.

Chu Sian and the Russian were tied at 27-all after the first round but found himself trailing by three points after the second end.

The Russian extended his lead to four after the third end and a place in the semi-finals was his for the taking after Chu Sian started with another seven in the fourth end.

“I was under a bit of pressure going into the second round. Hitting a seven is unavoidable ... I tried my best. I am disappointed not to have reached the semi-finals,” said Chu Sian, who plans to take a long break after this.

“We have been training for nearly a year without break for the Olympics. Next year, our main aim will be the World Championships in South Korea.”

Bair later went on to lose in sudden-death to Viktor Ruban of Ukraine in the semi-finals before beating Mexican Serrano Juan Rene 115-110 for the bronze later.

In the final, Viktor Ruban of Ukraine beat South Korea’s Park Kyung-Mo 113-112 for the gold medal.

[nicemamak]

Hopefully this sunday Malaysia Badmintan Tai Ko can get one gold for malaysia...

[changtao]

actually, malaysian cyclist might actually overtake chong wei to get the first gold...

Josiah and azizul both hav very good result in the world championship recently and they are hoping for the best today...

[changtao]

Malaysian in action today

ATHLETICS
From 10.10am: Roslinda Samsu – women's pole vault qualifying

SAILING
From 1pm: Kevin Lim – Laser Race 7 and 8

SHOOTING
9am: Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan – 25m rapid fire pistol qualifiers

TRACK CYCLING
From 5pm: Azizul Hasni Awang, Josiah Ng – Keirin

[Bingo]

(08-16-2008 10:20 AM)alexlim Wrote:  actually, malaysian cyclist might actually overtake chong wei to get the first gold...

Josiah and azizul both hav very good result in the world championship recently and they are hoping for the best today...

hopefully this time no more tyre 'pomchat' or lost nerves.... the usual excuse.......GO for Gold !!!

[gneleey]

8:40pm tonite...Lee Chong Wei quest for GOLD...GO MALAYSIA~!!

[professor_bobo]

Gold or no Gold..


lee chong wei... U're the MAN!! woo hoo....

[Meimei]

(08-17-2008 10:11 PM)alexis_lee Wrote:  Gold or no Gold..


lee chong wei... U're the MAN!! woo hoo....

yeah...silver not bad...we hv sth to proud of...yes yes yes..

[thundercats]

China’s Lin Dan, in all his majesty, broke the hearts of 27 million Malaysians when he beat Lee Chong Wei for the Olympics gold medal in Beijing tonight.

On a night when nothing could go wrong for the Chinese ace nicknamed ‘Super Dan’ in the badminton fraternity, Chong Wei was clearly outclassed losing tamely 21-12, 21-8 in straight sets.

It was all over in 29 minutes.

-- Yup, it certainly broke my heart...

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[bonny]

so sad, LCW lost ........ no holiday liao