Seeing our badminton doubles players, Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah, crashing to the ground from pole position was heart breaking. All it took was a bad call from the umpire to allow a service when Wan Wah was signalling his unreadiness to receive. It was indeed part and parcel of a game. After all the experience they have had and millions spent on their training, I would have expected more composure. This was an amateurish reaction that does not depict a world class athlete.

Perhaps what is lacking is proper training in Sports Psychology. Western sporting bodies invest lots of money on strengthening mental toughness and puts equal emphasis on it. Techniques are further employed to frustrate an opponent effectively negating whatever technical superiority the opponent may (or may not) possess. This is an important element in achieving sporting excellence.

We have seen time and time again how feeble minded our Malaysian athletes are. They succumb too easily to mental pressure and frustration. They appear not to handle the pressure well in the most dire of circumstances. They may have the skill and physical advantage but their lack in mental superiority makes them weak and vulnerable. I still remember Kwan Yoke Meng playing 3rd singles in the Thomas CUp final in KL against Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia. He had the Indonesian at his mercy but sly and psychological play broke Kwan and he eventually lost. We know the Indonesian badminton players are famous for that.

So it appears what we need is a more structured and effective training in Psychology. I think this has been our Archilles tendon in sports, leading to failure after failure to excel.

Mind Tools : Sports Psychology
Athletic Insight
Sports Psychology Resources