Endo hit a speculative shot at 19-19, not many japanese player have the courage to do that, then at 20-19 a brilliant third shot by yuta watanabe. seems like more japanese players are taking risk in their play these days, even their WD fuku/hirota are more adventurous in their play now.
See how many times they defense a hard smash from mid court or even front court tonight A lot of time i think minions could kill it and its just coming back, so i do think their defense for today is on par or better than LYD/JJS/YYS
Also one question, which player do you guys think has the most powerful smash currently? Across all discipline Praveen Jordan, Wang Chi Lin, Axelsen , Goh V Shem?Other players?
On par or even better than JJS/YYS maybe, but I still don't think their defense is better than LYD. Endo/yuta's defense is definitely impressive though, but remember they're playing against minions, they rarely hit steep smashes, even when they're smashing from the midcourt it's still not that steep lol. LYD was basically a wall against a freaking FHF. I would say either wang chi lin or praveen jordan.
Big picture , Still only 2 SS. Defence so good. talk so much weird during interview. just play the game. 1 title and he s like god haha.. getting easy draws playing against AhsanHendra that already played 2 rubber matches & ageing IvanovSozonov.. Its blessings obviously.
Yuta/Endo is the only pair in the world that are comfortable playing defense like this almost the whole game
on another note dont forget that its nice to see Praveen and Melati finally reached world class level, with their first real major title in the All England. Congrats to them!! they really showed their class this time
A member in my badminton group asked me that "WHY did the cups look different". Can anyone help me ^-^ ?
When i look at Endo & Yuta celebration photo after the match, they looked so happy. that hugs...sob sob... Even that moments, sports want to take away from Endo all these whiles..
VICTORIOUS AXELSEN, THE COMEBACK QUEEN As predicted by many, Viktor Axelsen realises his big dream to lift All England trophy, converted silver to gold medal this time. An anti-climax final that didn't reflect ideal showdown between number 1 and two seeds, the really composed and well determined Dane stays focus throughout final match, commanding the rallies in his smart tactic, powerful smash to pressure Chou TC who's difficult to find loopholes and changing the game plan, practically the Taiwanese was no match to his tall opponent yesterday. The long wait is over for Denmark to witness their MS player succeeds in Birmingham after Peter Gade did it in 1999. Axelsen cried to express his memorable glory that rejected by Kento Momota last year. Tai Tzu Ying reverses last year final plot to eliminate world number one Chen Yufei who acknowledged she's outplayed by her skillful opponent. The Taiwanese leading lady exhibits her mastery shots to trouble the agile Chen who unfortunately produced a string of unforced errors at decisive moment of opening game and mid of second game where traded points happened between two players before. No celebration as usual by the low profile Tai TY who claims third All England women's singles title and emulates Xie Xingfang achievement in mid of 2000 era. In Chen defeat, China rewinds 1993, 1994, 1995 worst result when they're back home without any title. JAPAN HISTORY, INDONESIA RECLAIMS GLORY Japan scores big win in YAE 110th edition to nail two titles, the headline underscores Endo/Watanabe who create history to become first ever Japanese MD pair to win this oldest badminton tournament, second time for Yuta Watanabe after he topped podium together with Arisa Higashino two years ago. Overall, it's very close battle, the Minions did their best to break Endo/Watanabe magic defense that saw the Japanese comfortably how they retrieve Indonesians relentless attacking shots, very entertaining and thrilling showcase in deciding game, Gideon/Sukamuljo lead 19-18 but the never give up senior-junior combination hold their nerves well to grab three consecutive points to seal historical victory, 21-19. At opening match, Fukushima/Hirota finally won their major event crown, showing impressive steady play, strong defense and smart placement, more pro active to outmaneuver the shaky Chinese second-ranked pair. Du/Li seemed confused following their attacking mode didn't work well and couldn't anticipate the Japanese pair counter attack. It's relatively short-duration for women's double standard that normally will display marathon match with lots of long rallies. Praveen Jordan recaptures mixed doubles triumphant that he topped podium with Debby Susanto in 2016, coincidentally he did it again in Olympic Year, 2020. A dominant showing by the Indonesians who played much better than Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai, Jordan's lethal smashes combined with Oktavianti clever shots, flat drive at front area were really effective to neutralize Thai aces fast furious pace. One way traffic in third game as world number three combination ran out steam and couldn't do significant effort to stem Indonesians from victory. Three month hiatus (or maybe more) for BWF World Tour as we don't know exactly when it will be resumed, June is possible date. April's Continental championship and May's Thomas-Uber Cup are still no guarantee to run as scheduled.
You know lyd/jjs played in the era of TBH, kido and Fu hai feng right, and defended their smash with consistency? If anything the backcourters today are as weak of an era as ive ever seen, especially among the top title contending pairs in MD.
Lyd defence is better, so much better that he can change defence into attack. Don't see anyone doing it now. Sent from my Mi A2 using Tapatalk
Probably needs PraveenJordan to play MenDouble. He has this kind of look when jumped, just so explosive. think he has the strongest smash alongside ZSW. But these guys arent so good in playing defense.. LiJunhui used to have this kind of scary smash but dont know what happened afters..
Yeah tons of players from XD and MS hit hard, but we are talking about MD though Li jun hui is one of the most powerful hitters I've seen, I'll give you that, but that's just one player, and based on their last 12 months I don't even know if I can even consider li/liu a top contending MD pair anymore, just so inconsistent. The Indian and Russian pair hit very hard also, but again, they're not a top contending pair imo.
What a day yesterday, they only let down for me is MS is not up to hype. VA is too good for CTC yesterday. Semi VA vs LZJ if I can choose should be final day match.. MD is another awesome match, bring back memories during LYD era when defense is another tactic to success. Yuta/Endo is the only pair so far that can withstand Minions cannon with their defensive quality. Icing on the cake for us badminton lover.
personal observations/summary wd: when fuku/hirota attack they win. they started attacking a little more each tournament over the last 12 months. this victory is a sweet payoff for them. skill wise i think they're a cut above du/li anyway. ms: axelsen played well, but i've seen him play better. ctc seemed sluggish. maybe he was a little under the weather. this year's ms final was the least exciting of the 5 finals. xd: great to see pj/mo keep it together and not crumble after losing the 2nd game. i can't be the only one to half expect them to cave in, especially with all of those service faults pj got nailed for. too often they don't sync up their good days. see what happens when they both play their best? i wish i had the most powerful wrist in all of badminton. ws: i thought this was a nail biter from the start. going in i had it cyf 50.01 to 49.99 for tty because cyf has had a great run of late, but i can't yet ever count out tty. there was such high quality play from both of them... until the last third of game 2 with tty up 14-12. at that point i thought cyf was getting tired which is why tty outscored her 7-3 to close it out. md: edge of my seat from the start. i couldn't believe the pace they were playing at. best defensive shot making i've ever seen in a final. most exciting md final i've ever seen. endo/watanabe's victory was razor thin. does this mean the minions are figuring them out? from 0-6 down, then 9-14 down to tying it @ 15 in the 3rd game is a sign of maturity. i wan't the final for olympic gold to be between these 2 pairs. endo over marcus: he has better all around skill and game play. watanabe edges out kevin: he's quicker with more weapons and less risky game play. starting from round 1 the overall level of play from everybody pushed the entire sport ahead. professional badminton has moved up another notch. i wouldn't want to get seriously injured nowadays because i'd get left behind. i hope antonsen's ankle isn't shi yu qi bad.
i disagree. advances in equipment technology and athlete fitness/conditioning has increased the avg. smash speed compared 12 years ago, the peak period of those you mentioned. it's inevitable, and readily apparent to anyone who has seen a lot of live and in person top 10 players over the years. all top 5/10/20 players in all disciplines are hitting it harder than their equivalent 12 years ago. all top 5/10/20 athletes are faster than their equivalent 12 years ago.