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| Pair let down by overconfidence Posted: 14 Mar 2011 10:33 AM PDT Going by their performance in the All England final, it will be tough for Kien Keat-Boon Heong (right) to end their 14-month title drought. The World No 5 pair were guilty of making the same mistakes in Birmingham which cost them the World Championships and Asian Games titles last year, where they failed to finish off their opponents despite taking a comfortable lead. Denmark's Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen were trailing 11-16 in the third game before stringing crucial points to win 21-18 and claim their first All England title.
But despite a fiery start in the final, Kien Keat-Boon Heong, who took the first game easily, slowed down for reasons only known to them. It was apparent that overconfidence crept into their play when they were leading in the rubber.
National doubles coach Rexy Mainaky needs to seriously consider implementing new training methods to help the pair win a major title this year. It was apparent that Kien Keat was the main reason for the pair's defeat. He tends to be hasty and sometimes gets too fancy during matches. There were times he made glaring mistakes which gifted the Danes with easy points.
"I am satisfied with their performance here but they will need to work on their mental strength," said Rexy who is optimistic Kien Keat-Boon Heong will iron out their weaknesses soon. "What they need is a title. They will play their best badminton once they achieve that," he added. -- AJITPAL SINGH Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| New Zealand riding high on confidence Posted: 14 Mar 2011 09:16 AM PDT MUMBAI: New Zealand are brimming with new-found confidence after three wins on the trot took them into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, says opener Brendon McCullum. New Zealand hammered Canada by 97 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday to become the second team from Group A to sail into the last eight. "We are slowly starting to play how we want to play and we move into the next game knowing that we have played well over the last couple of games," McCullum said.
"We are proud of what New Zealand teams have been able to achieve in past World Cups -- they consistently gave themselves the opportunity." The Black Caps made it to the semi-finals twice in the last three World Cups in 1999 and 2007 despite starting as underdogs.
Before Sunday, they had defeated Kenya, Zimbabwe and Pakistan but lost against holders Australia. The manner of their triumph against Canada has now put them in good stead ahead of their last league outing against a strong Sri Lanka side on Friday.
"We were able to play to roles we were trying to play to and execute the kind of skills we were hoping to achieve. "Anytime you win, anytime you perform well, anytime that you get some confidence out of the game, that certainly helps. "When we came here we had gone through a pretty tough time back home (a 3-2 defeat to Pakistan). But none of that mattered once we arrived here." -- AFP |
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