Malaysia goes down fighting as Japan clinches first Thomas Cup with a 3-2 win

What a final it proved to be as both teams played probably one of the most entertaining Thomas Cup final in recent times. Except for the second singles in which Wei Feng was simply outplayed by Kento Momota,  the other matches could have gone either way.

Chong Wei started the ball rolling for Malaysia with a straight sets win over Kenichi Tago but it was not an easy match - Tago was 5 points ahead in the second set at one stage and could have won it.

The first doubles was an even closer match but the Japanese pair managed to squeeze out a 21-19 win  in the third  set to make the tie 1-1. Perhaps Thien How should consider losing some weight as that could be seen as a weakness from his opponents.

The second singles was  the most disappointing match as much more was expected from Wei Feng. This is probably the first time I have seen Wei Feng play. He has an oddball style and I am not sure how far he will go with it. The loss certainly leaves a lot of question marks for him. With this loss, Japan were ahead 2-1.

Based on current form,  the Malaysian pair of  V. Shem and Wee Kiong was expected to win the second doubles quite easily and though they did win - it was a very close affair. However looking at  their performances , it appears  this partnership should be kept.

Daren  performed creditably in the third singles and with  a bit more discipline he probably could have won it.

Malaysia was not expected to go far with this team  so getting to the final was a bonus but it seems like the second singles was the bane once again. In the past, China was able to win the Thomas Cup mostly from the strength of their singles and hence it would seem that this would be what Malaysia needs to continue work on  to bring back the Cup.

Malaysia in Thomas Cup Final

In what is probably one of the biggest surprises in  badminton this year -  Malaysia has made the final of the Thomas Cup.  This probably has been mostly due to the performance of the second singles Chong Wei Feng who has won all his matches so far in this years edition. In the last few editions, the second and third singles have not been strong enough - putting a lot of pressure on the the doubles pairs to perform.

Japan will not be pushovers in the final, as on paper except for Lee Chong Wei, they have performed better than the Malaysians  in international tournaments this year. However, the idea  of splitting up  the Malaysian doubles pairs appears to have worked favourably for our country and together with Wei Feng's improved performance, Malaysia would probably be  going into  tomorrow's final with a slight edge over the Japanese.

American Idol 13: Jena Irene- "We Are One"

So it was down to the final two and Jena actually had the more catchier song which was a little unfair. Probably the Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood final was more fair as they both sang the same coronation  song.  Nevertheless, this song was probably more suited to Jena as Caleb is more of a rocker. Also, can't take away the fact that Jena's "Can't Help Falling In Love" recently (two weeks ago) was simply superb. This song is very catchy and well done too  so my guess is - Jena to win but you never know.

American Idol 13: Jena Irene- "Can't Help Falling In Love"

This song  made J Lo do cartwheels in American Idol recently (ok, I am just kidding - she didn' t do that  heh heh)

Looking Back - HP Compaq Tablet PC TC1000

I remembered thinking of getting a  tablet pc a few years back and this was one that I was considering but the price tag was too heavy - over RM3000. It was different from the other tablet pcs  back then - as it had a Transmeta Crusoe cpu which is now considered defunct.

These days,  Windows tablets with displays under 9 inches cost around  RM1000 but Windows will be free for such  tablets  so the price of those tablets should be even more  cheaper soon. If there is a HDMI port, it will be  possible to connect  them to a larger display.