Jin Chen of China returns a shot against Wing Ki wong of Hong Kong during the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2012 badminton tournament at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on April 25, 2012. AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA (Photo credit should read MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)
Li Xuerui plays Petya Nedelcheva. "I'm stuck! Un-bandage me!" P Kashyap in round 1 "A little to the right, please..." Streamlined Saina... "Is 5 kg enough, do you think?" Adcock & Ellis. "Say, hold on, what are we doing here??!!" "The curry, Chris! Concentrate on the curry!" Chen Jin: "I think I'll just sit here for a while, and get my breath back. How many more tournaments before I definitely get that #4???" Taufik: "Did I just hear something go rrrip???" Local beauty pageant: "I'm a winner!" Fujii & Kakiiwa: "Mine! All mine!!!"
Peter the Great. The Great Dane. Saint Peter. The real Peter Pan of badminton. "Hold on, hold on! I'm not done yet! See you again, tomorrow. The race is between me and CJ. His bad back; my ankle."
At your service, Sir! The Siri Fort complex is fairly gigantic, and apart from the sport complex, it also houses the Siri Fort Auditorium, a veritable cultural terminus in India's capital, that hosts every kind of cultural event, from art openings, to musical evenings, international cultural troupes, plays and much more. The Sichuan cultural troupe performed at this venue about a year ago, during a weeklong "Experience Sichuan" promotion. Tina Saini of Pakistan and Peenaz Masani of India share the stage at a "Ghazal" performance night at the Fort. Outdoor performances in the late evening in Delhi can be especially beautiful. Sometimes however, even great people have to make, er, allowances... What? Who? Is that a new movie playing at the Auditorium? Animation festival Nubile nymphets performing. More nubile nymphets performing.
any gurus here knows why men's-doubles korean pair LeeYD/ JungJS would travel all the way there just to concede a walkover on their opening match??? and its against an indian pair too...sabotage?...diarrhea perhaps?
Strangely enough, I couldn't find any article or post with the reason. Its possible he wasn't in good physical condition; I recall he withdrew from the MO earlier this year as well. And I believe he has announced he will be retiring from the sport; there is a separate thread on that topic...
R-16 image diary Wang Shixian: "How I wish this were at that guy's face!" Bae Youn Joo: "Am I good, or what! And the curry ain't so bad, either!" Chen Jin: "Please, someone tell me Gade has lost? Can I lie down now, plllleeeeeeeease???" Waiting for the serve to begin: "You are beginning to feel sleepy.... veerrrrrryyyyy slleeeepppyyy.... veeerrrrrrrrryyyyy....." "Look out! behind you!" "What?!! Where!!!" Taufik: "Darn pesky mosquitoes! Oh, it's only Zhengming, again..." Li Xuerui: "Still stuck from yesterday. But thanks for changing my clothes and bandages, elder sister!" Peter Gade: "Yup, check. Still here!" Zen Master: "Like a finger (still) pointed at the sky."
A hazy, cloudy delhi greeted me to my 1st day at the IO12 yesterday. Having landed in the afternoon and a quick shower & change at the hotel i headed straight to Siri Fort to get right into the midst of Rupesh & Sanave locked in an exciting tussel against the Korean Kim's. For the paltry crowd gathered more specifically to watch the antics of Jwala Gutta who is being accompanied by her new beau (ex Indian cricketer) the MD match offered quiet a few thrils and spills with Sanave Thomas in particular comingup with a ripping reverse side trickshot smash to get the Indians into a lead of 19-17 in the final game. Rest of my thoughts on yesterday will follow soon along with a few hazy pic's
Tine Baum was wiping down after hvng lost her match and Schenk was walking of waving to crowd who managed to figure out her last name. It was now time to concentrate on the Indian youngster Sindhu in her most prominent match at home against her more fancied opponent. Well, she was dominant all thru the match as the Korean never found her range or rhythm. Even the 2nd game when SJY caught up and closed the deficit to 13-15 & 17-17 all she left herself with much chasing to do. It was a story of contrasting body language with both the Korean WS's while SJY was lethargic and even nervous at not being able to read Sindhu's game BYJ was focussed and intense. Even being down 10-14 in the 1st she clawed her way back with crosscourt slices flumoxing SN who went into her "clueless & unable to change tactic" mode.
The japanese wd Misaki Matsutomo qualifies for the "cutie" club as am sure has been already said in the BC forum before. For once not having a bazooka camera to capture pictures of the many mood's is a bit dissapointing Whilst the 2nd seeded pair of Fujii & Kakiiwa had an easy outing against the veteran Malaysian WD, their team mates Maeda & Suetsuna played out a batlle of attrition against the Indonesian pair which seemed to be going on and on and on. Overall a good day for the jap WD as the 3 pairs moved into the QF's
Taufik's taming of the young Chinese Cub Its amazing how TH can appear so indifferent while playing his matches. From being comfortably in command to letting his opponent back in and giving the impression of not being able to do much to stage a come back............ All these shades of Taufik were on display in his match against Zhengming. TH seemed to be not into the match during the 1st game but the turnaround in the 2nd game saw him toying with WZ & delighting the crowd with his smashes. And the young chinese did not do himeslf any favor's either in the 3rd when he let go of a 10-7 lead to lose 11 points in a row. TH clearly dominated and the way he slowed down the 3rd game to force the chinese to play at his pace was a delight for me who hasnt watched live badminton for a while now ....
Other quick quirky highlights yesterday Sari Shinta taking on the service judge when she was called for a fault serve asking him for a clear explanation of what she did wrong ..... The awesome pink of the Russians gear and Ivanov and Sozonov having absolutely no hesistation signing autographs and posing for pics with fans Shocking voilet of ha jung eun's hair color The Singaporean coaches look more like IT professionals than baddy coaches (again this is in my humble opinion, not to offend anybody) Dissapointing performace by the INA mens doubles and overall bad day for the INA dbls. Vita and Melati had the measure of the Indian beauties for a little bit before we saw the badminton player Gutta take charge and not the beauties that JG and AP sometimes become
time to now head off to watch Peter Gade. it will be interesting to see how the Indian players perform after their high's of yesterday. TH against LCW is also a treat, so off i go
Excellent reports from my old partners avataar n cobalt. But, err, we need more, please ....... Am stuck here in the middle of the ocean for another 3 weeks.
Badminton: China's Chen Jin pulls out of India Open with Olympic slot safe Posted: 28 April 2012 0142 hrs http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/1197932/1/.html NEW DELHI: Chinese star Chen Jin pulled out of the India Open badminton tournament with a wrist injury after his Olympic berth was ensured on Friday. Chen, who Thursday replaced Denmark's Peter Gade as the fourth-ranked player in the world, was scheduled to meet India's Parupalli Kashyap in the men's singles quarter-finals late in the evening. The pull-out also helped Kashyap make it to the London Olympics. "I was ready for the match. It's obviously a great feeling to be in the Olympics," said Kashyap. Chen was assured of an Olympic place after second-seeded Gade lost 24-22, 21-18 to unseeded South Korean Wan Ho Shon in the quarter-finals early in the day. He is now set to join compatriots Lin Dan and Chen Long, ranked number two and three respectively in the world, at the Olympics. Chen will retain his number-four spot when the final world ranking list to determine the Olympic qualifiers is released on May 3. A country can have three players in each singles event if they are ranked among the top four. Kashyap now plays Wan Ho Shon, while top-seeded Malaysian Lee Chong Wei meets Chinese Taipei's Jen Hao Hsu in the other semi-final. In the women's tournament sixth-seeded German Juliane Schenk pulled off the biggest upset of the day when she rallied to down top-seeded Chinese Wang Shixian 6-21, 21-10, 21-16 to move into the semi-finals. The German will take on Chinese Chen Xiao Jia after unseeded Korean Youn Joo Bae, who upset third-seeded Indian Saina Nehwal in the previous round, failed to maintain her form and lost to Chen 21-17, 21-13. The other women's singles semi-final will be an all-China affair, with second-seeded Li Xuerui taking on fourth-seeded Jiang Yanjiao. Li recorded a 21-15, 21-11 win over Singapore's Gu Juan while Jiang overcame an opening-game loss to down Indian P.V. Sindhu 18-21, 21-12, 21-18.