DEN need a 5-0 to make sure they are in semis.. if turning up 4-1, risky set winner will make it through..
Even though I think KOR will win, I hope DEN wins 4-1 or 5-0. This way, we can see at least one European nation in the semis. If CHN destroy MAS [as expected] tomorrow and ENG beat THA [with whatever score], then we shall see 2 European nation in the semis. CHN vs. DEN INA vs. ENG ...sounds very very good to me... Sounds good for the rest of Europe too... Let's get the overall prize money up, my Euro friends...
The crucial tie....DEN vs KOR: XD: Jens Eriksen/Kamilla Rytter-Juhl vs Han Sang Hoon/Lee Hyo Jung -- probably expected as KOR fields their winning combo against KOR. A smart move by DEN as well to switch Thomas Laybourn with Jens Eriksen. His height and powerful smashes will tilt the tie towards DEN. I hope they do win! MS: Peter Gade vs Park Tae Sang -- a no-brainer....Peter Gade to win...and he HAS TO WIN! WS: Tine Rasmussen vs Hwang Hye Youn -- a risky move for KOR to field Hwang, while Tine has been on form lately. The Danes to win....while KOR HAS TO WIN this one! MD: Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen vs Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man -- if the tie is still not won yet by DEN, then this is a crucial match that BOTH needs to win. If DEN loses this one, then they can say bye2. I think the KOR pair has an edge here. WD: Lena Frier-Kristensen/Helle Nielsen vs Lee Kyung Won/Lee Hyo Jung -- again, a no-brainer. If the tie is split at 2-2, then KOR will top the group! Overall, I think DEN will win 3-2 and INA to top the group, avoiding CHN in the semi-final on Saturday.
Not enough! Please please DEN win by 4-1 please please... Badminton [and INA fans] need this: CHN vs. DEN INA vs. ENG ...semifinal lineup...
Interesting notes on the two crucial matches: Tine Rasmussen (14) and Hwang Hye Youn (15) have never met each other before. Their world ranking is separated only by 1 place Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen (11) also have never met their opponent Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man (9) and their world ranking is separated by 2 places. So, this will point to even matchups in the 3rd and 4th matches later.
Roadmap to USA powerhouse status: 1. Hijack top singles players like Lin Dan & Xie Xinfang. Give them a quick Las Vegas wedding, give them a house in Beverly Hills, pay their bills for 30 years, give them one eco-friendly car each, a $200,000 per person guaranteed income etc. C'mon USA, you can afford this. 2. Hijack top doubles pairs like the English pairs, Emms-Robertson, Donna Kellogg, and their MD [Andrew Clark and his partner, I forgot]. We need caucasian faces too. The whole team cannot be Asian looking... 3. Hijack the top coaches: Tong Sinfu, Li Mao, Park Joo Bong, Rexy Mainaky, etc. Some would coach the elite team, some for the junior team. 4. When the players in step 1 and step 2 are getting old or injured or cannot perform anymore, repeat step 1 and 2 with younger versions of those top players... Essentially, USA should adopt the Singapore strategy, but with more $$$ and other incentives to get them to move... Hey, if anybody can do this, it is a country with a $ 11 Trillion++ annual GDP, which is the USA... The USA is built based on the strength of its immigrants. So it makes sense to just do what the USA have been doing for 200-plus years. Ha ha ha...
Hwang is KOR's best player; to field a player other than Hwang would BE the risky move. I think this match is 50-50.
If DEN wins 4-1, they will be second - regardless of sets won-lost - because they would have defeated KOR in head-to-head.
What I mean is Hwang hasnt been fielded before, while Tine already has a feel of the court and will stand an advantage.
Why? He is just expressing his mind, and stating the obvious. So, is Rexy arrogant as well, since he said he wanted KKK/TBH to be world #1 by the end of the year? Seriously, for a team which lost to England in this Sudirman cup... what chance does it have against China?(not just winning 1 out of 5 matches, but actually winning the tie at the end) XD = 99% China WS = > 80% China XD = 99.99% China MS, and MD is not even relevant in this equation, and it is not like Malaysia has a huge chance of winning those two anyways.
haha yes we could do this, but...that would be cheating. i would rather America breed their own players instead of just simply recruiting players from other countries, but that may be asking too much. maybe we're just better off doing what Singapore is doing. haha yes we obviously have money. btw, the correct word here is "hire" or even "bribe" but not "hijack." that word is used for objects like planes, not people. yes, we could technically spend our money on getting these top notch players to represent the US, but all of our money is being squandered on the stupid war in Iraq, thanks to our !@#$%^&*() president, but we won't get into politics right now XP.
The scratch pairing of Han, Sang Hoon & Lee, Hyo Jung is quite good considering they beat the INA pairing of Nova Widianto & Lilyana Natsir and now Jens Eriksen & Kamilla Rytter-Juhl
As much as I want Denmark to win, but realistically speaking, only Peter Gade is the hot favorite to win his match as far as Denmark is concerned. XD = Korea won it as we all found out by now MD = Lars/Jonas are not close to their prime any more. WD = Korea pretty much has that in the bag WS = at most 50/50 if not worse Forget about Indo topping the group... they should just get ready to lose to the almighty China... Repeat of Sudirman Cup 2005 final (CHN 3 : 0 IND)