I couldn't count how many times I had to restart my heart last night while watching the Thomas Cup Finals. So close, yet so far.
I had a couple of observations post-match.
Firstly, it was great fun and at the end of the match, one name stuck to my mind. And it wasn't Liew Daren.
Park Joo-Bong.
The great South Korean doubles specialist had been the Japanese Badminton head coach for a number of years and had revolutionised the game there, turning it into a super-power.
How Malaysia could do with somebody like him, plus the almost alien concept of political non-interference of course.
Don't get me wrong, we did well, and one thing we could take out of the loss was the fact we got some up and coming doubles players post Koo Kien Keat. The lack of singles player coming through the ranks was still a major headache. And it had been so for many years.
The second major observation I had was the unity sports brought to the nation. I wonder what ISMA's thoughts were when they saw throngs of Malays singing the name of Lee Chong Wei and Liee Daren during the match last night? How could we give so much face to these pendatangs? I meant the whole squad of it ....
Malaysians thrive in adversity and when it came to national event - the MH370 tragedy brought to mind - we glued together and rallied on as a family. Shame that it took these to unite the nation while certain parties kept using the racial card to gain political mileage. I bet they would be doing a police report against RTM for showing the match live after pleading the rights from ASTRO. Sigh!
