Exactly. Most professional athletes (in any sport for that matter) who have been on the circuit for a long enough time play with some degree of pain. If you go with the reasoning of not playing because you're not "physically ready", then we'd probably see more "walkovers" in finals because "their semi-final was too tiring". Would we want to see that in the Olympics final? Say Lin Dan plays a 3 hour semi-final winning 31-30, 30-31, 31-30 and then faces Chen Long in the final. Of course Lin Dan would be feeling tired and sore, but should he concede a "walkover" because of this?
Fair comment except that I'm not talking about the mental strength of a player vis-a-vis his opponents but other distractions or personal matters that may affect his state of mind (that's why I cited LCW's case which I surmised had to do with his family problem at that time, not his mental strength when facing, say, Lin Dan).
Interesting news - nothing is impossible. A Forum member is one of the chief organisers of this tournament. Anybody else want to step in to help?
It's not just about the players either - it's the fans who have made time and paid money to come and watch and support them too.
Perseverance paying off for the CHN pair, Cai Yun's unyielding spirit is admirable, what an old,trusty sword he is!
Good for the CHN pair reputation as well an easy straight trashing will hurt their confidence and derail their morale
Setiawan has declined over the last 1-2 years too. His peak was the Olympics final 2008 with Kido. That was an amazing game. CY/FHF had no answers in that rubber set.
True frustrating story: Last Year in one major tournament with price money 750K. World no.1 sign up for the tournament. Tickets almost sold out for Semi and Final. Three days before tournament start, he pulled out. Reason not given but he lost unexpectedly in a superseries previous week. The winner of that superrseries also pulled out because he is too tired after winning unexpectedly. Both didn't give any reasons for their pulling out from our tournament. I can see that both mentally tired. I think as a professional, it is unacceptable. One should know if you signed up for two big tournaments one after another there is possible consequences.