Yes its Korea v China in the WS and Taiwan v China in the MS. So far its 2-1 to China for the Men. WS is all to Korea. Liu Haicho was down 20-17 in the 3rd set but won in 24-22. That was close. The other junior that I liked, Gao Zhenze won in straight sets. Its now left to Weng Hongyang to make it 3-1 to China. I am also looking forward to Zhang Weiyi beating Zhou Zeqi. He is also one of the juniors I liked. I remember his game against Kodai, in the AJC a few years ago, as tbgoh related. He also bested Gu Junfing and Ye Haokun, two established juniors. Finally I am rooting for Lei Lanxi who won all his matches in straight sets including Firman Abdul Kholik a fearsome smasher. I remember FAK outsmashing the great man, LCW only to be taught who was the boss later.
I am only interested in the progress of the juniors not in them winning as I don't think they can. I will be very surprised if L. Sen lost.
That would be a tough call as Zhou will be his opponent. Let's see. Btw if any ct2 live stream link is available tomorrow, please share the link.
Going back to the juniors Weng Honyang did very well. So China juniors 3 Taiwan 1. The performance of the juniors at the quarterfinal stage are 4 Xd , 5 Wd, 3Ws , 3 Md and 3 Ms not including ZZ. Not bad. Impressed with the WD. The indonesian ladies doubles were quite strong but they lost to the chinese pair. There is hope for Chinas WD. How do I rate the MS? So So in my humble opinion. I am impressed with Liu Shimin as he is still 16 years and took Yang Chih Chieh to 3 sets. But the rest apart from Gao Zhengze slogged. Its great to see the full list of China juniors. I hope the CBA will continue the new modus operandi and create at least 3 to 4 junior teams. Let a 100 flowers bloom and the best will be seen. Next week will be 3 tournaments at the same time where we can see the juniors performing. Wonderful!!
L. Sen has improved with every tournament and I think he has prepared well for this as can be seen by his game against Loh Kean Yew.
Looks like Chinas junior MD are improving. There were three seeded in the tournament at no 1, 5 and 6 and they are through to the S.Finals. They played well taking out the opposition in straight games. The opposition comprised Indonesians, Koreans and Taiwanese juniors. The 4th MD of Guo Xinwa and Dong Weijie was narrowly eliminated by quite a strong Korean pair in the QF. They are quite good too. There were no Japanese MD but their WS and WD were represented and didn't perform well. Chinas XD have two pairs in the semis and I think Guo Xinwa and Liu Xuanxuan has a good chance to win this tournament. Surprisingly there are three WD represented in the semi-finals. The korean pair seeded 4th is the favourite . They met stiff opposition from Cao Tong Wei and Yu Xiaohan, winning the rubber at 21-19. YX is very good with her court craft and very strong smash. She needs a change in partnership as I feel Cao Tong Wei isn't strong enough and YX has to play more aggressively thus making errors. As for the Ws it looks like ZY versus Korea. Finally the MS. I think it will be Malaysia and India as the China Juniors are not as experienced. But if Liu Haicho wins then I think he might have a chance in the final. I will be very surprised if Weng Hongyang can beat L. Sen. In summary the MS and WS didn't impress here. Lets hope they and newer players are exposed to tournaments around the world to toughen and sharpen their skills and confidence. All the best to them today
I see Liu Shimin's name has been removed in the two tournaments down under. I hope he is alright. I think he is a talent . It would be nice if the Badminton association makes announcements about such queries in the interest of their fans.
Liu Haicho won his match against Z. Iskandar a really seasoned player. Well done. There is one worrying aspect about his game.No doubt he is a naturally talented player, but you may have noticed he makes many unforced errors. I hope its not ingrained into his system. LH is a delight to watch and Hopefully the coaches can work out the weaknesses he has. LH should use his powerful smashes to create opportunities to wrong foot his opponents or get easy kills, ala Lee Chong Wei. His footwork and style of play has a little resemblance to the great man.
Weng Hongyang has improved a lot. He used to make so many unforced errors. An unexpected surprise that he beat L. Sen. His victory over Sen just emphasises the point that Z. Zeqi doesn't have the talent to go far. Noticeable that both WH and Liu Haicho are strong attacking players.Both have very effective smashes which puts the opponent on edge, therefore not able to play their normal game. Interesting to see who will be the champion. I am a fan of Liu Haicho since I first saw him last year in the scottish open which he won. Well played the Juniors , finalists in all categories.
It was not a surprise to me that he beat Lakshya Sen as I didn't see him play earlier. Wen Hongyang played good and neutralised attacks by Lakshya. An exciting prospect for China.
In summary for the MS, the top three juniors are Liu Haicho, Weng Hongyang and Gao Zhengze. I see light at the end of the tunnel at last. Looking forward to seeing all the juniors including those that went on the European tour.
I have always been criticising the CBA for not having a long term strategy with the juniors. I have also criticised the way they train them as C.Long clones and not allowing their natural talent to flow.I am now full of praise for what is happening not only to the juniors. Someone has taken control of the management of the CBA and these changes can be seen in the style of play and the approach to overseas participation. As for the style of play looking at the juniors playing they seem to have good strokes and defence against smashes. This probably accounts for the reason why the juniors are not exposed early. The have to be equipped with the basics thoroughly before they are let loose on the circuit. Unless they are very talented e.g. Liu Shimin at 16 years. I wonder who is responsible for this makeover. He has done a great job. Congratulations whoever you are and well done.
Zhang Jun has been appointed as the president of CBA not too long ago. I guess he is the one who makes the change. He wants to restore China to its former glory state where China dominates the badminton world.
