Sukamuljo will get a new partner, that's I'm pretty sure. He is still in his prime years, no way PBSI will waste this opportunity. All the respect to Gideon, I think he often under appreciated.. But he had his time and it's time to try a new combi. For Ahsan / Setiawan it's the end of the road for them. Competing at the highest level at their age is incredible. They are undefeated in WC, winning 3 golds and also numerous superseries titles. One hell of a career, let's call it a day
But he must first train harder on his badminton. I noticed he is the weaker one when defending. Target the first smash at him and from the weak return, the opposing front court player can kill the shuttle.
I think so, but I don't see any potential partners for him in CHN team... And I also think Zhang Jun should shuffle all the current pairs to find the best combos.
His full name is Muhammad Khadafi. Again, this is based on google research and my only source is from one article in Indonesian so there is a chance its wrong. If you want to read it here https://www.indosport.com/raket/202...bulutangkis-amerika-didikan-pelatih-indonesia
And this is so funny for me because I am Indonesian, and yes Khadafi is a name for some Indonesian people. *My mistake, I should've edit and yet I pressed reply to my own quote.
He can shuffle the other dudes but I think the Li and Liu can stay as it is. They were simply outgunned, outmatched and outplayed in the final - no two ways about it; the Chinese Taipei pair were simply better. It's not like these guys gave up or anything. If it was any other opponent instead of LeeWang, I think Li and Liu might have actually taken the gold.
I always feel that CHN wasted a few reasonably good MD players by somehow making them retire/dissapear (no-one knows what happened to some of them), Hong Wei (ok I know what happened to him) Li Xuialong (??? just dissapeared) Liu Cheng (used to play XD well also).
Varnish? They had won many titles before their triumph in the Olympics, and added several big ones after that too. 2008 : Setiawan and Kido won AG in 2010. After they split, Setiawan won another 3x WC and 1 AG with Ahsan. 2012 : Cai Yun was already multiple WC winners with FHF before winning gold in 2012. They also won Oly silver in 2008. CY split up with FHF after WC13 due to health issue, I think. FHF will go to partner Zhang Nan and won Oly gold in 2016. 2016 : FHF retired after the games. ZN partner Liu Chen to win WC17. Pity they didn't improve much and split up later. But ZN has already bagged Oly gold and WC in both MD and XD. 2020 : well, given their age, and the current MD pairs in the world, Wang/Lee should win a couple of titles in the coming years, if they stay healthy.
Well, it's not like they haven't done that before. But I love He Bing Jiao today, although she lost, it shows how much she has grown as a player. Her skills and stamina (her biggest weakness) have been developed tremendously. She's definitely going to win more tournaments from now on.
Zhang Nan will have love to play in Tokyo, knowing it will be his last chance as he hit his 30s (31yo this yr). Too bad he can't form a strong partnership in both MD and XD. He did won WC17 in MD with Liu Chen, but then their performance regress badly (I think), while the Twin Towers start to mature and improve at the same time.