another ridiculous ranking points: Shen Ye only played with Hong Wei, but Hong Wei also played Chai Biao. Guo ZD only played with CB while CB played with HW, LXL, ZN. Most important, Hong Wei/Chai Biao won 2 gold titles, hold 100% perfect winning streak so far. How come the ranking system gives SY/GZD 43174 notional points while HW/CB only 28000. This ridiculous ranking system only punishes perfect wins. Now SY/GZD is enjoying the main draw at Ina open, while HW/CB have to play Qualification, unseeded (even without any hope to be promoted).
http://sports.qq.com/a/20130802/018572.htm In this article,Li Yongbo also gives his take on Chen Long and the World Championships (besides talking about Lin Dan on whose thread I've posted a translation of the relevant parts). Li Yongbo: Place hopes on Chen Long's World Championships Breakthrough Chen Long's fierce spirit no way inferior to Lin Dan's No matter what Lin Dans decides to do after this world championships, as far as CBA is concerned she has to set her sight even further. " Lots of people like to compare Chen Long with Lin Dan, actually Chen Long is who he is, in normal times quite gentle, on court he's inwardly even more powerful; even though he doesn't appear as cool,natural and unrestrained as Lin Dan, at heart he's still more fierce. At the Sudirman Cup he didn't meet any formidable opponent, we look forward to seeing him bursts forth at the World Championships," Li Yongbo spoke approvingly. Speaking of Chen Long's WC prospects, Li Yongbo expressed:" I hope this WC will be the beginning of his breakthrough. Although at this year's Sudirman Cup he swept away his opponents 2-0 in each of the five matches, he didn't face any stiff challenge or anyone who has a forceful impact on him. From beginning to end, he was fiddling, keeping in control of the matches just enough to win them, such was his attitude then. When Chen Long is really explosive, he would launch from a steady position into a sudden and violent attack in lethal manner, for only then could he exert greater pressure on his opponents with volatility. Although our badminton is top in the world, in LYB's eyes there's still quite some way to go to be as dominant as we are in table tennis. "We've won many championships, but our superiority is very small. More importantly, our say in the BWF is rather lacking unlike the status of our table tennis which enjoys considerable say in the ITTF. It's not like we haven't been contributing suggestions and ideas,it's just that in the past BWF don't understand badminton much and so won't listen to us. Let's look forward to Larsen to promote the growth and development of badminton."
At the Chinese National Games, Chen Long suffered two unexpected defeats, first in the team event to Li Yu, an ex-national player and now provincial coach to Jiangsu, then in the individual MS event to Chen Yuekun whom he had beaten in the team event. The second loss to CYK could be attributed to his first loss to Li Yu that nearly caused Fujian the team title that was still playing on his mind, though I won't rule out CYK as an improved player. I'm speculating that Chen Long's sudden drop in form may have something to do with Lin Dan's stunning comeback in winning the world championship, consciously or unconsciously affecting him mentally for the time being. Lee CW is not the only one to suffer from Lin Dan's great comeback, undoubtedly. I remember reading CL saying he is striving to reach his pinnacle at the Rio Olympics, implicitly saying Lin Dan is an obstacle to his rise to the top for the next couple years. I believe Chen Long has the confidence and inner belief to upstage Lee CW but unsure of his ability to best Lin Dan yet. For me, I think Chen Long is not only a bigger threat to Lin Dan than Lee CW, he has the physicality and youthful exuberance coupled with the requisite skill,of course, to maybe beat Lin Dan half the time to win the big ones. Mentally he is cool,calm and collected but inadvertently allowed his great respect and awe of Lin Dan to overshadow it and stymie himself. That is something only he himself can overcome, just make sure he doesn't end up another Lee CW. Fortunately, Chen Long is still relatively young and time is on his side.
I wonder what form CL is in now for the upcoming JO...He will be facing some of the few players who has actually managed to beat him in the last few years, with potentially Tago in the QF and Tommy in the SF.
Chen Long's sudden decline in form is a cause for concern. From the high of the Sudirman Cup when he was in commanding form, he suffered a shock first round loss to Sugiarto at the IO PSS playing erratically, then followed by his not-so-unexpected defeat at Lin Dan's hand in WC'13 after which he was humbled at the 12th Chinese National Games losing to a certain retired-now-a-coach player named Li Yu before another defeat this time to Chen Yuekun, and finally a most humiliating fiasco at the JO SS R1 to an unknown JPN 'amateur' or semi-professional player named Kazuteru Kozai. In sports as in life, one has ups and downs. Hope Chen Long handles it in the best possible manner, deals with it positively,learn the right lesson and move on.
CL drop of form has nothing to do with LD, for sure. All the players, except LD, LCW and PG had those spells in the recent years. but there are also the cases of players who perfom above their normal capacity for a laps of time, and then go down. It was the case, for example, for Wang SX. We do not know yet for CL.
Congratulations to Chen Long for winning his second Denmark open title. He speaks Chinese so clearly btw. Btw, he doesn't looks like using his n55 anymore now, he's using n80 now?
What do you mean with "he speaks chinese so clearly"? His pronunciation? Yeah, it does look like a N80 for me too. With white lead tape as usual. The final was really enjoyable to watch. Several nice rallys. Both CL and LCW played well, with some unbelievable shots
I meant his pronunciation. Thanks for correcting me. Doesn't adding lead tape on the top of n80 kinda makes it less aerodynamic as n80 is designed like a sword to increase it's swing speed? Weird huh? That turn LCW made is just so cool! I realize that CL has a very good atitude also, like giving LCW a thumbs up and saying sorry to the umpire when he accidentally hit the tape of the net while killing the birdie. 1 word : IMPRESSED! Keep it up!
A resounding victory for Chen Long, The Dragon, once again for the 3rd consecutive time beating his archrival, The Mighty Lee CW, to take the DEN Open PSS'13 title on this occasion. A Clash of Titans, an adrenaline pumping, thrilling, electrifying duel of the highest quality. Wow, 7 - 7 H2H against Lee CW. Wonder who else has such a distinguished, enviable record with Lee CW in the first 4 or 5 years of his career as Chen Long. I earnestly hope Chen Long continues to grow from strength to strength as I believe he can still go higher and quickly becomes the only one who can seriously challenge Lin Dan (before he retires) for supremacy.
Really liked Chen Long's attitude(among other things of course) during the final. If only he could play like this when facing Lin Dan.
Glad CL has shaken off his indifferent form after the Sudirman Cup. Hope he has fully recovered from his injuries . The same goes to LXR for her knee problem. Missed the whole Danish Open as I am on holidays. Will watch the matches on YouTube when I return home.
What an extraordinary performance by Chen Long at Denmark Open Super Series Premier 2013 yesterday against World No.1 and the King of Super Series Event, Dato Lee Chong Wei. A very good defense, perseverance and versatility on court are among the keys of Chen Long yesterday's victory and improve their head to head record, 7-7. Lee Chong Wei has to dig deep on retrieving every shuttles and launch several torpedo penetrating The Dragon's defense. What a long and intense match. Chen long has pushed LCW to the edge of the cliff. Well Done Chen Long, he is surely delighted.
However great a player, whoever he is, he's still human, when his mind is disturbed, his performance suffers. Whatever that is affecting Chen Long lately resulting in his lackluster form until the DEN Open PSS , I hope and would like to believe he has shaken it off completely. Charge ahead,Chen Long. JaiYou ! From now on, I will be eagerly looking forward to Chen Long taking on Lin Dan in a Super Final, in addition to his still much-awaited clashes with Lee CW,of course.