Congratulation to China for winning the Sudirman Cup 2013! Sudirman Cup is the world mixed team badminton championship first started in Indonesia and which takes place once every two years. There are five matches in every round: men and women’s singles, men and women’s doubles and mixed doubles. This year, the championship was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for its 13th edition from 19 to 26 May 2013.
(Image source: http://static.inilah.com/data/berita/foto/1991197.jpg)
In the final battle between defending champion China and South Korea that concluded not long ago, China emerged to be the winner once again by winning 3 – 0 over its opponent. The Chinese shuttlers did not drop a single set in the final, which further proven themselves to remain the king of the sport. It’s their ninth title (previously China had won it in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011) overall. What a wonderful performance achieved by them in those years for almost two decades! South Korea had also won it three times (1991, 1993 and 2003) and Indonesia won it once (1989 when it is first started).
Where is Malaysia? Malaysia had never win Sudirman Cup before. In previous Sudirman Cup 2011, Malaysia successfully reached the semifinal stage (it’s our best achievement so far). Eventhough Malaysia failed to move on to the final, but it managed to be at least in top 4 standing. However, in this 2013’s Sudirman Cup on which Malaysia is the host nation, anticipation is high for the country to make it to the semifinal at least. In the end, everyone is hugely disappointed. The country couldn’t even make it to the quarterfinal! Malaysia is not even in top 8 this time. A bit embarrassing.
Malaysia found its luck when it is grouped with Chinese Taipei and Germany in early elimination rounds. To be honest, those are weaker nations in this sport. Malaysia should find no problem getting to the top in this group to get into quarterfinal. However, Malaysia lost 3 – 2 against Chinese Taipei and also produced the similar result against Germany. This is so unbelievable. What a shocking defeat. If we lost to South Korea, China, or Indonesia, then I understand. But now, losing to much weaker countries had shown that our performance had dropped significantly. This is serious! I am so disappointed!
Our standard had gone downfall to a point that everything need to be studied on where the weaknesses of our national badminton team are. Now, Malaysia is no where to be seen after only two days on courts. This is bad. This is bad. China is still so strong in this sport even after so many years. We should actually learn from them to further excel in this sport which is sometime considered our only hope for Olympic gold medal in the future. Forget about it. By the way, congratulation to China once again to have successfully defended their Sudirman Cup title. Malaysia, don’t give up, overcome the weaknesses and do your best in coming tournaments!
Vincent Loy's Online Journal 
