Too bad, the MD semifinal match between CHN Cai/Lu and KOR Yoo/Kim who's just beaten Ahsan/Setiawan won't be on TV court.
Interesting point. But that's just WYH. She's received tons of criticisms in China for not being a resilient and skillful top CHN WS player. Her skills as a CHN WS player are considered by some people as mediocre compared with many badminton players. Every WS player, from china or not, looks like having worked out her particular way to deal with her. I can't even remember how many times she escaped from the precipice of demise. But She's WHY, a player both mentally and physically strong, and with full of experiences, has won over 30 more titles so far in her career, more than anybody else in WS discipline. Even she looks like in a very difficult position, she can still manage to win. For me, sometimes I just felt her win was more like miracle, but anyway she won eventually like always. Also in fact, both Nehwal and Sindhu could be guided by some successful chinese coaches. Among them, I do recommend Li Mao (maybe in Malaysia?) or Chen Gang (now in Korea), but I seriously doubt Gopi can allow to let it happen.
You mean Chen Gang is with the KOR team now? Previously , he was for many years coaching Chinese Taipei, then I thought he went to HK the last 1-2 years, cmiiw. It's overly critical, and unfairly too, for those CHN fans to say WYH is a mediocre player. Since her well-known fiasco at the 2010 Uber Cup, WYH has developed into a real fighter who never gives up except for the few occasions when her inexplicable 'moods' let her down some time ago. Lately I see her playing a better and more forceful attacking game and often using her brains making adjustments to her tactics and strategy whenever the match isn't going her way or when a particular opponent seems to be troubling her.Her match with Sindhu just now is one example. But WYH can still be quite obstinate at times as when she insists on using her round-the-head to receive a flat drive to her left side even when the shot is a bit too low below her left shoulder instead of switching to backhand return.
What has it got to do with LCW when I didn't even say which match on TV court should be replaced by it ?
I am just saying people would rather see LCW and the sponsor knows it to draw bigger crowd and audience. You see 2 MS events on court #1 with LCW as the final event of the day:[TABLE="class: ruler matches"] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]3.[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Followed by[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]MS[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, align: right"][TABLE] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, align: right"]Simon SANTOSO[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, align: center"]-[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Pengyu DU [5][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE="class: ruler matches"] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]5.[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Followed by[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]MS[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, align: right"][TABLE] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, align: right"]Chong Wei LEE [1][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent, align: center"]-[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Srikanth K.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
Chen Gang has been with Korea team before 2012 OLY. See this http://sports.titan24.com/badminton/2011-12-15/187278.html He was appointed as a WS coach in the KOR team in 2011, primarily responsible for Ji Hyun Sung. After the 2013 Korean Open, in which Ji Hyun Sung won the WS title, I heard that he was asked to help improving KOR MS to a new level. As to chinese badminton fans, you know that, what they want are not only victories but overwhelming victories. Truly impossible for everyone even for LD.
Cai Yun may be aging, plague by minor injuries and ailments, a has-been, but he is doing an excellent job mentoring and guiding the younger CHN MD players very well. As for the KOR, their ability to produce world class MD pairings by mixing and matching or just forming a scratch pair 'at the drop of a hat' is simply phenomenal - something that CHN would do well to learn from. The INA in this aspect are not bad too but I've to admit the KOR are somewhat better at it.
Someone told me that CHN coaches normally don't encourage players to use backhand return. I think most of CHN players probably follow an instruction like this, whenever possible,even in an awkward position, return the shuttle with your forehand. But it makes LXR so exceptional, her backhand is just amazing to watch.
I don't know how on earth they can call WYH a mediocre player when she is now the most successful WS player as far as SS titles are concerned. Those titles didn't come purely by luck, I can tell you. I suspect she doesn't do so well domestically, thereby inviting the criticism, but internationally I don't think many of her teammates can top her. She has also clearly improved as a player under Chen Jin - those lovely forceful shots are still there, but she now also varies her play with a really skillful deceptive and net game. I'd say that when she's playing to the utmost of her ability, there really is no one else who is more awesome to watch. Mentally, she's still a bit suspect, but she's proven her fortitude time and time again for us not to write her off completely.
I don't know either. never take it seriously. In fact, it's quite funny because those people think all current WS players are so inferior to the elder generation that the current WS matches are not even worth of watching at all. Their theory is that all young WS players are not even close to Zhang Ning's era , and Zhang Ning in turn, was far from the more elder generation player such as Gong Zhichao, Martin etc. I believe that the only WS players they admire are Ye Zhaoying, Susi and Li Lingwei, nobody else. In a word, those people think the sport is running in a backward direction, WS and WD, in particular. So according to their theory, it's more like a compliment to call WHY a mediocre player because the others are even worse than her.
For shots that are high and deep to your backhand, using round-the-head forehand returns and still facing your opponent, as far as possible, is understandably and presumably more advantageous than turning your back to play the backhand return as you briefly cannot see where your opponent is standing or going to do. Yes, LXR is exceptional, her backhand returns with her back turned towards the opponent is remarkably well executed whether it is to play a drop shot straight down the line or x-court or even to smash (remember, she did that winning backhand smash to WSX in the AE). But in WYH's case, I was referring to her not wanting to use the backhand return for her opponent's drive or flat push to her left side around her shoulder level forcing her to bend her body leftwards and, as a result, more often than not, she hits the shuttle into the net.
Strength, endurance, speed and stamina are more important than techniques nowadays. But I personally think LXR is not very far behind Zhing Ning in terms of techniques.
Well, those CHN fans are difficult to please or a demanding lot. Perhaps, either they (mostly the older ones) are being nostalgic or they expect much more from the present crop of CHN WS (not dominant enough? WYH's and the WD's shocked defeats at the 2010 Uber Cup? WSX's prolonged slump period? LXR's losing the WC'13 thereby ending CHN WS' unbroken run of WS WC for about a decade?). For some people, bygone eras or the olden days are always the best because they only recall the good,happy things but not the bad.