Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying won the first set in the final of the All England Open in a hard fought 21-19 win as Malaysia sought its first mixed doubles pair win in England. The Olympic silver medallists took the lead by four points when the score was 17-13. Malaysians watching from the screens or the stands were catching their breath as there is finally real and genuine hope.

But in a demoralising fashion, Malaysia lost the second set 19-21. Malaysian supporters will be thinking, “We still have a third set, all hope is not gone yet.” Malaysia lost the third set 16-21. There was no history made on that day.

Waves of praise and support came for the mixed doubles pair with words of “They did their best”, “They fought hard” and there were some comments blaming the umpire’s calls. I admit praise and support are essential for our national heroes battling with their heart and soul to bring pride and glory to our nation’s soil. However, criticism should be given when criticism is due.

“They played their best” is not an excuse any more. That excuse has been overdue. The players’ performance and mentality should be put under a microscope.

Firstly, leading 17-13 in the second set and going on to lose it is not the way to go, we should be killing off games, instead of having a “If we lose this match, we still have a third set to go” mentality when you are four points up. People will argue that “This is sports, there is a winner and a loser so you cannot control it”.

You cannot use luck and fate entirely to blame for a lost where a four-point advantage is given to you. You are supposed to make use of that lead and not blow it. This relates with our national players’ mentality which will be further discussed.

Chan’s high serves was one of the noticeable mistakes. Giving such serves when your own opponent's smash is already hard to defend is a mistake which should not be repeated after the 2016 Rio Olympics Final. Some people said that his serves have improved but I did not see that when the China players smashed and won most of the serves given by Chan.

Another excuse for that lost is the injury that Goh had before the tournament in which she recovered. If her injury was one of the reasons, the pair wouldn’t progress that far into the tournament. By reaching the finals, it shows that the injury is not a concern. She had recovered properly and gained her level of fitness.

She even participated until the quarter-final of the German Open before entering the All England Open. The fans’ excuse of her injury is unacceptable for me.

I saw some social media users commenting that Malaysia should have won but the umpire did some bad calls. That is not the main blame of their lost. I do not think the umpire threw the game away for the Malaysians. The fact that it affected Chan’s performance after his dissatisfaction further shows the mentality of not being able to cope with the game.

Not inexperienced players

Chan and Goh are not inexperienced players, they have been to 16 tournament finals, winning nine titles. They have experience in high level games and have deal with such pressures in their careers. Chan and Goh are reaching the peak of their careers, 28 years old and 27 years old respectively. This is a very important phase in their careers.

Praise and support should be given but constructive criticism should be provided before they keep repeating the same mistakes that always eludes Malaysia from that major title.

Supporters may blame the management and the administration of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and I agree that there is some problems within that association. There are several factors for Malaysia’s stagnation in key tournaments. However, my key focus here would be on the player’s mentality. Mentality is not something easy to prove as there is no such affirmative source.

I will use numbers and statistics from our beloved national hero, Lee Chong Wei to prove my point. Bear in mind, I have my utmost respect and support for Lee since I first watched him play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but as I keep emphasising - criticism should be given when criticism is due.

LCW has won many open titles in his career including the most recent All England Open. But till this day, LCW has not won one single trophy in a major tournament final. For those who are thinking why am I judging the weight of the tournaments, the Badminton World Federation states that there are seven major international badminton events: Olympics, World Championships, World Junior Championships, Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, Sudirman Cup, World Senior Championships.

It is safe to say that all the others tournaments are minor open events. Here are the cold hard stats for LCW’s major tournament medal count, Olympic: three silvers, World Championship: three silver, one bronze, World Junior Championship: one bronze (I am not going to count the Thomas and Uber Cup because it is a team performance).

I am not condemning him but as professional athletes at such a level, there is a point where we should stop praising for his hardwork and look into the details of why LCW keeps on losing majors. The statistics are very worrying to say the least.

LCW has consistently made to the finals and semi-finals of such tournaments but he is unable to hold that elusive title. LCW has the means, requirements, support, training, coaches and many more needs for him to win major titles. The opponents which he had beaten in open tournaments are the recurring faces that he ends up losing to in major tournaments.

LCW has beaten Lin Dan in the BWF World Superseries Premier finals two times, BWF World Superseries finals two times. LCW has beaten Lin Dan 12 times in his career so it shows he has the experience and capabilities. The stats for LCW’s major finals stats against Super Dan is disappointing with two Olympic finals losses and two World Championships finals losses. These numbers do not lie even though some fans do not like to acknowledge this fact.

One of my friends who disagreed with me criticising LCW gave me a reason alleging that Lin Dan’s preparation for major tournaments is different because he plans his wins and loses in open events so he can focus more on major events. If those allegations were true, it seems unethical and un-sportsman-like but it still does not hide the fact that LCW’s record against Lin Dan is still bad.

It's performance and mentality that counts

That is an unreasonable excuse by blaming other players for having more preparation time where it is the performance and mentality in the game that counts.

A familiar pattern can be seen when LCW plays against Lin Dan in major event finals during the peak of their careers. LCW often wins the first set comfortably and loses the second set by a large margin (often more than six points). LCW then fights tooth and nail in the third set but ends up losing it altogether.

In the 2012 London Olympic finals, LCW lost by 21–15, 10–21, 19–21. In the 2011 World Championship final LCW lost by 22–20, 14–21, 21–23. Lastly in the 2013 World Championship final LCW lost by 21–16, 13–21, 17r–20. The fact that LCW often dominates the first set, loses the second set by a huge margin and loses the nail-biting third set is a sign of weak mentality.

Our national players should know that our opponents will never settle so why do we relax in the second set and allow them to dominate the game? Our national players should have killed off the game once we win the first set instead of putting our guard down.

Some might argue that Lin Dan is just too good for especially in the Olympic and World Championship finals. He lost his first World Championship semi-final against Taufik Hidayat. Most recently LCW has lost the 2015 World Championship and 2016 Rio Olympic Finals against Chen Long. LCW has beaten Chen Long 13 times in open events.

These are the same opponents which he has gone against and which he has the experience and capabilities to beat them but when it boils down to a major final, he crashes and burns. Is it due the feeling of inferiority when facing top China shuttlers? I am not sure about that. However by using those statistics, there is some evidence to show that the mentality of LCW in open tournaments are so much more different as compared to major tournament finals.

I must state that I am aware of the achievements of every single one of the athletes representing our nation. Lee Chong Wei’s has planted Malaysia’s flag in the world of badminton by winning 63 titles and sealing his No.1 ranking under the Badminton World Federation (BWF). I am also aware of most Malaysians who are satisfied of his achievements even when he comes close to winning that major ‘lottery ticket’ for numerous occasions.

Is it all right for our national players to consistently qualify for major finals and consistently lose to the same faces (sometimes different faces) on and on again for next few years even when our players has the means, requirements, needs and possibilities to bag that golden ticket? No.

Since there is the consistency, shifting that level of consistency into wins should be the priority. Look at Arsenal Football Club, they have not won the title for 23 years. However, they have been consistently in the top four placings in the league. The team has the resources, players, facilities, support etc to attain the title but always fails to do so.

The mentality of being satisfied with what they have and ‘we don’t need a title, a top four finish is good enough’ kind of attitude becomes entrenched within the whole organisation. Now the fans are starting to realise by criticising their team for not competing. The fans are allowed to criticise as the club have been through the same stages each and every year without substantial improvements.

Without the fans, there is no Arsenal

The fans are not professional football experts but the fans and their voices represent the club. Without the fans, there is no Arsenal football club.

The current situation in Arsenal has certain identical trademarks of the current situation in Malaysia’s badminton. The last time Malaysia won a major tournament was the 1992 Thomas and Uber Cup. Four runners-up positions and four semi-finals positions for the next 25 years in that competition. Lee Chong Wei’s statistics also represents the grim situation as well.

We keep praising for their hard work, dedication, commitment etc. when they get knocked out, until the point where it is a norm to continue complimenting them for the frequent elimination. I am sure the national players have their own pressures to meet certain goals.

So do fans still need to criticise and give pressure to them? Yes, because it is the fans’ opinion and when there is no improvement, the fans can question their performances. I am not saying failure is unacceptable, but when the level of professionalism in the sport is high and the consistency of always coming runners-up in a major event is too frequent, there is a cloud of doubt that needs to be solved.

Criticism is not totally good but it is not also totally bad as well. Most Malaysians think criticism is pressure. Pressure can push a person forward or make a person fall. It depends on the mentality of a person in that perspective. A carbon material which can withstand high pressure will become a diamond while for the one that cannot will become a piece of charcoal.

Age may be getting to Lee’s career but it still does not make me to shy away from giving criticism to him. I wish I could have written this article about Lee and the national players years ago during the peak age of their careers. My opinions are not to ridicule or diminish their reputation. I, just like every other supporter of Malaysian badminton would want to see our country win a major event.

It is not wrong to criticise as all we want is the best from our players. There is still time though for Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying, the great Lee Chong Wei and several more players to prove me wrong by winning a major event. I really hope they can prove me wrong on Aug 27 of the final of the BWF World Championship.