Today, our national badminton player, Lee Chong Wei won the Malaysian Open tournament held in Kuching, Sarawak. He defeated Lin Dan (my badminton hero) 21-18, 18-21, 23-21. I know I’m supposed to be patriotic and all and support my own country. But where individual glory is concerned, I’m not all too pro-country.
Yes…. I’m still pissed at the dismal performance of Chong Wei in the Thomas Cup. Where it was for the country, he just failed to deliver. Can’t blame me for being negative towards a person who only strives for individual glory right? So imagine my heartbreak upon seeing unfair line calls made against Lin Dan, who in my mind is the best player at the moment. Ultimately invincible. Watching him play brings joy to the heart as his shots and moves are absolutely mesmerising.
I wouldn’t say Chong Wei didn’t play well. I think they were both good. But I felt that Lin Dan could’ve done better than that. He shouldn’t have let the bad line calls affect him. He could’ve wrapped up the match when it was the match point at 20-13. But NO….. He relaxed, made mistakes and instead Chong Wei forced the deuce and went on the clinch the win. *Sighs*
To make things worse, he showed such unsportsmanship behaviour which was truly a disappointment to watch. Sure, I agree that there were bad line calls and with all my heart i felt that you deserved to win. But to be a sore and graceless loser is even more heartbreaking to watch. Nevermind the fact that im a sore loser myself.
Which brings the question to mind – Which is worse, Losing or Being a sore loser? I would think the latter is the obvious one. It considerably wrecked my mood further. We shall not even start to talk about my strained vocal chords from cheering him on. It was this incident that forced me to think about Chong Wei’s performance.
Truth is, to some extent, I think I will forgive Chong Wei for the Thomas Cup outing. He showed alot of grit and determination especially when it mattered most (well, only in the malaysian open which once again i remind u, is the purely for personal glory). He stayed cool and won the match. Today’s win I will credit it to him for showing grit and determination, for not giving up when all seemed perpetually lost. If its one thing I hate in sports, its the giving up attitude.
I suppose there are times when one is off form or just unable to cope with the pressure. We can’t be at our best all the time. Even androids malfuntion or suffer from glitches. And so human beings make mistakes now and then too. Because of that, I will try my best to forget the Thomas Cup blunder and look to his possible future contributions to the country’s badminton progress. (I wonder though if I’m more of trying to convince myself here..hehe..)
One final dedication though. “Hail Kien Keat-Chong Ming!”
(Update: Lin Dan thrashed Chong Wei at the recent Taiwan open to claim the title. Ahh…Sweet is revenge..)
