Keeping it Simple doesn't mean you can't win matches. Have you forgotten that THW has beaten LD once?
I think there's a few guys who have potential though - Victor Axelsen has shown some good runs, if he keeps injury-free for while he can surely improve further. Kento Momota is also pretty promising, he seems more disciplined and eager than Kenichi Tago and is a fairly aggressive player, more so (and more creative) than THW, for example. THW reminds me a bit of Tommy Sugiarto - fights hard, runs well, but doesn't have great technique and no great attack. Personally I find it hard to decide whether the sport just got more competitive, thus making it harder for players to shine, or if LD and LCW were (and still are) so incredibly outstanding that nobody can compare so far... Basically everybody has beaten almost anyone once. What matters how reliably you can do so, and where both competitors need to be in terms of overall shape and form on that particular day. THW needs LD to be softened up, a bit sore or just not in great overall shape, so that he can run him tired. If LD is fit, THW has no weapon to hurt him - his attack is predictable and not very penetrating, his limited technique means he has to get far behind the shuttle, and he hasn't shown that he can force his pace on opponents (as proven by his trouble with HKV). That being said, LD has played a lot of badminton these last 2 weeks. I won't make predictions for any Final, this tournament has had more upsets than any other I can remember...but I'll put LD as the clear favorite tomorrow.
I guess what goes up, must come down...one day. Correct me if i am wrong. Although he is still enjoying success as the world's top MD and top ranking but i feel that lyd isn't as sharp as his pre 2012 OG days when he paired with jjs.
[MENTION=97052]nizze[/MENTION] A lot of people used to praise Lee Yong Dae saying that he is a good player. But I have a different opinion. In most of the matches played it was Yoo Yeon Seong who contributed to the winning point and Lee Yong Dae tends to make mistakes after mistakes in tournaments. Certainly you are right brother. Lee Yong Dae is not a sharp player anymore.
QUOTE: j4ckie Basically everybody has beaten almost anyone once. What matters how reliably you can do so, and where both competitors need to be in terms of overall shape and form on that particular day. THW needs LD to be softened up, a bit sore or just not in great overall shape, so that he can run him tired. If LD is fit, THW has no weapon to hurt him - his attack is predictable and not very penetrating, his limited technique means he has to get far behind the shuttle, and he hasn't shown that he can force his pace on opponents (as proven by his trouble with HKV). That being said, LD has played a lot of badminton these last 2 weeks. I won't make predictions for any Final, this tournament has had more upsets than any other I can remember...but I'll put LD as the clear favorite tomorrow.[/QUOTE] Yes, that's what we call "UPSETS". Which we have seen aplenty in this AE! Clearly LD is an overwhelming favourite in terms of ranking, success and experience. So is CL who lost unexpectedly to 'lowly' XS. THW has youth, fitness, ambition and thirst for success on his side. He needs the right condition and frame of mind to succeed. He has no lack of technical ability as proven on his previous scalping of LD and LCW, two of badminton's superstars. So he's been there and experienced success before. Now is his chance to score another great victory in such a prestigious tournament as the AE. So we should not discount him so readily, after all he has so far put aside so many good players along the way.
So congratulations to Tang Yuanting / Yu Yang for finally winning their WD match tomorrow. So for the WD finals it will be Japan versus China tomorrow.
Apparently it is rumored that Zhang Nan is suffering from an injury to his knee, probably explains his poor performance in this tournament.
There's enjoying "quality" badminton, and then there's enjoying certain "styles" of badminton, and then there's enjoying "improving players" in badminton-- I personally don't enjoy the 3-shot point (serve, receive, score) of scoring in MD, so I actually only watch the Korean MDs to see if anyone has come up with a game plan for them. Of course, for the same reason, I enjoy watching Okuhara run rings around players trying to wear her out. The writing is pretty much on the wall-- even players with a good all round game like Marin cannot simply rely on consistency and stamina to beat Okuhara... you actually need to improve your game with more creative play and/or better game-reading, or something to have an edge over Okuhara. Not to mention that there's is the long-term pleasure of watching "developing players" in badminton-- I was pretty much ready to write off the Russian MD as "also played" when they first formed their partnership (they were "1st round exit" MS players), because they mostly relied on their "advantage" of playing like 2 MS in the same court (both capable of covering the entire court, smashing, etc.)... But since getting European Games champion, they have become more strategic with rallies, more creative with net play and generally more enjoyable for me to watch. (PS. both Yoo and Sozonov were faulted for high service in this match-- so at least the service judge was consistent. And yes, I also think the Japanese MD deserve a "long-term service" for presenting yet another viable "style" of playing MD instead of the "3-shot point") They are all a bit more interesting to me now, a bit like watching the more mature or accomplished players such as present-day Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei: you know they have those smashes, slices, flicks and what-not in their game-- but you no longer know when and where they are going to apply it.
Maybe that's the attitude that keeps Xue Song going? You have to allowed for different personalities and quirks if you are really interested in the badminton-- the scowling Lin Dan, the cold LCW, the angry JOJ and goodness know, we have been putting up with Marin screaming... Steen Pedersen has often opined that the likes of Vittinghus are so nice that it transfers over to their gameplay! Xue Song certainly seems to have all the tricks under his belt-- but his real challenge/goal is Chen Long when it comes to getting a spot in the national team or Olympics, so he has a long way to go developing his game... His win over Victor Axelsen was full of surprises and frustration for me ("He can do that? But why didn't he do this?")-- he needs to stop smashing and playing like a junior and get better at his game-reading/awareness and shot selection, not to mention shot quality and consistency. And yes, I agree that he shows more potential than the entire cohort of CHN MS I've seen in his generation/age-group. Too bad I've yet to see a potential LCW or consistent challenger to CHN MS.
Too bad for Xue Song today, he was keeping up pace with LD until he had a problem with his foot. Once that started he was on the floor every few rallies and had to get the doctor a couple of times. He was struggling to move around big time. I was lucky enough to meet Rexy today. For anyone interesting, he was pretty funny with the stories he told about getting Olympic gold. He was basically not feeling much pressure before the finals but then when he actually reached the finals, everyone started telling him that he MUST win gold, even just before the match started. After that, he couldn't eat or sleep and said even in the first game he tried to aim at one spot but the shuttle would go in another. Even his coach didn't have much advice to give because he was pressured too...the only advice was "praise the Lord". So Rexy said that he would say "praise the Lord" before every point and eventually it helped him relax and win gold!
In which countries are the videos blocked? Germany and Switzerland for sure so far. Does anyone know the reasons? Did someone get a special license to show the matches? I mean how stupid must bwf have been to restrict the videos in some countries? More money in exchange for less publicity? That can't be worth it. Edit: I hope Endo/Hayakawa will get their AE title. They really deserve it!
Err, gameplay and strategy is not exactly something "technical": THW will not be able exhibit his "technical ability", if LD can control his opponent's game like he has been doing for the last 2 weeks-- that's why computers being faster, having more memory, blah X3 could not beat humans at strategy games like GO until they developed the right kind of AI for beating humans at GO. And the trouble is-- LD and LCW's recent wins shows that they have improved and changed up their gameplay, whereas THW's win over Vittinghus only shows him playing the same basic game from last year....he kept getting tricked by Vittinghus' deceptions and only beat Vittinghus when the latter ran out of stamina. PS. you can say Vittinghus used the wrong strategy: if you consider his refusal to throw game 2 and conserve his energy a mistake (but then I love watching him precisely because of his "professionalism", sigh)
Err, are you one of those youtubers who think that the real world revenue does not exist outside of youtube? BWF have obviously been been adequately paid by TV channels for exclusive rights to broadcast the matches in the real world...
