ACTUAL competition is a different animal from training.
This was stressed by Smash Pilipinas coach Rosman Razak after finally seeing the country’s badminton players show their wares in the recent MVP Second Badminton Cup at the Olympic Badminton Center in Ugong, Pasig.
“I think I was here for almost four months already, and it’s always been in the training. The training is really good, but then, of course, the tournament is much more different,” Razak said.
“After this, I also have the idea how we need to move on, because this is the real thing– we need to move up,” he added.
The Malaysian coach, who was tapped by the Philippine Badminton Association last October to handle the Filipino shuttlers, admitted his wards still have a lot to improve on but the potential is there.
“I think, frankly speaking, we are still far from the other countries. However, I think we are in a good position to compete with the other countries,” Razak said.
“But of course, we need a lot to do in the future.”
The likes of Mika De Guzman of Ateneo and Jaja Andres, 23, of University of the Philippines, battled in the women’s singles finals with De Guzman winning 21-14 21-17.
Also catching the fancy of Razak, a former two-time Southeast Asian Games silver medalist, were men’s singles runner-up Jewel Albo, 18, women’s doubles specialist Susmita Ramos, 20, and men’s singles fourth placer Mark Anthony Velasco, 20.
The young guns could only get better.
