^^ You may have reversed the cause and effect. The cause is that Fu was smashing very hard. The effect was that Koo and Tan was pushed to defend from rearcourt. Not the other way around. Of course standing closer is easier said than done. But once Koo and Tan was forced to lift and Fu started smashing amazingly like that, it spiralled into a deadly cycle that they couldn't escape.
I must highlight a point that I missed earlier that the way Koo/Tan played in the 1st game was different from the decider. In the decider the chinese changed their strategy and Koo/Tan played to their tunes. The cause FHF was smashing so hard is because he gets the lifts he wanted. When one play a lift is because he couldn't play the shots earlier and that is because he was way too backwards. The effects that follow suit is your opponents would become stronger and stronger in their smashes. Whether to play deeper to the base is actually the choice of the players as there are many ways to counter your opponents. The rest of my points were already mentioned enough in the previous posts. Of course this is just 1 of the points I personally felt that Koo/Tan could improve on besides the other good inputs that you guys has already mentioned..
For Doubles, defending is not good tactics; attacking is better . IMHO, in the first place, KKK/TBH did not have their usual excellent front court control/form in this match. For Doubles with opponents of about equal strength/skills, usually the side who is forced to lift the shuttlecock first, will lose the rally. In other words, for Doubles, defending is not good tactics; attacking is better. Credit should be given to CY/FHF for forcing KKK/TBH to lift first. .
Chris you are very good in expressing yourself. By just putting down a couple of lines you almost got what exactly I wanted to say. It took me few pages!!
I shall be voting for KKK/TBH to win their rematch with CY/FHF . limsy, I shall be voting for KKK/TBH to win their rematch with CY/FHF. .
(as mentioned many times already, esp. in Doubles play).. Control the net/force lifts = high percentage of winning.
It can be done! In a situation when one is forced to lift, when defending instead of positioning oneself too backwards I think one should moved slightly towards the centre of the court. In Koo/Tan's case just 1 step forward. Now knowing that they have less time to react they should be in a better ready position to take the shots by: 1.) Getting their racket head up about knee to waist level. 2.) They should hold (grip) their racket around the cone/shaft area for better maneuverability. That way they have more angles to play a flat return and forced a counter attack instead of just lifting and lifting the shuttle until your opponents finally kill off the rally. The way they placed themselves on that final match they were bound to lift the shuttle because they were way back and taking the shuttle too low. This can be done of course by more practising until they master it and make the skill permanent. After all if FHF attacking prowess is getting better and better, Koo/Tan defence should be improving as well otherwise they would have the same problems meeting them again in the future. Also this is about what they can do for improving their game overall. The Indonesians doubles especially those great pairs from late 90s to early 00s and Kido/Setiawan (to a certain extend) had shown us its possible if you bother to take a closer look at how they play.
of course its easy for chris to express, he is a coach and i agree, playing control and attack is better than defensive or being attacked left, right, centre and everywhere. in a control and attacking formation it can be systematic but defensive most of the time like loose cannon ball. and i wonder why kkk/thb stayed so near the baseline when they were in defensive mode
I've been saying this so many time.. I just can't understand why can't koo/tan play more offensive instead of keep lifting the shuttle high up for their opponent to smash and keep defending.. Somebody, oh men, pls tell them this.
What you are implying is simple but sorry to say you missed my point altogether. If you were to read properly my posts especially post #148 its not exactly about who got hold of the net/front control and force the opponents to lift first so to initiate attack to gain advantage. That is just one part of it. All I was pointing at is about Koo/Tan's positioning when defending (too far back to the baseline) and not being able to get the right angle to play a flat return and instead lifting the shuttle back all the time. PBM last line of his post sum it all up. Now what you were saying is already well understood by many in the forum even a junior long long time ago.
Maybe it's not so easy to start the offensive? If they can do it every time then people will ask why the opponent keep lifting to them all the time...?
- I gave my insight as to why KKK & TBH were defending basically at the baseline, in that near the end of the 3rd game rally, in my post #136. Not going to re-write again. - Have you actually tried defending closer to the center of the court, as you're suggesting, when your opponents are smashing back to you at least from half court or even front of their court?
most of the point the mas pair won are being offensive or their counter attack their defense are good but i don't think its earning any points. unless they can turn it around otherwise forget it.. coach pang and rexy must work on this push them harder and be offensive most of the time
what aspire actually means is the mas pair was trying to be defensive, sending shuttles up, not down they should know where their returns end up if its up and half court, i don't think anybody who plays badminton would go to the center of the court!
Of course all our talk is cheap and easier said than done. Next time try defending a 303 km/h smash from half court and see if your reaction time is fast enough. And I hope you wear eye protection. The MAS pair were just unfortunately caught in the CHN pair's attack cycle that was spiraling into a vicious circle of greater smashes causing weaker returns.
I back-paged and re read your post #136 but... Sending the shuttle half court is a big no no although again its a different matter altogether. In that case no matter the smash was 303kmh or not and where you position yourself, it doesn't matter anymore. In writing you seem to understand that attack is the best form of defend but I am not sure whether you manage to put all the pieces together. In my opinion people like you and chris-ccc have a different level of perspective when it comes to badminton. But I must also admit that I do not belong to your group.
