the olympic is the highest profile event but i usually dont use the olympic event to gauge player's ability and talent. Remember that shon (KOR) got the silver, is shon that much better than chinese and danish MS players? Current world ranking of taufik and shon is 13th and 16th at the moment. Does that mean anything? Hmmm, calling bao a child but yet whining about KOR bullied them. Double standard? I dont recall other greats LD, peter G, Chen Hong, shon mo, bao, xia bad mouthing other players. Of course, some of taufik comments are invoking and make badminton a bit more interesting Also that picking a fight with the fans make a great tv scene some history: alan budi and Xinpeng Ji also won olympic gold too. Are they solidly more talented than other MS players of that time??? In one other match, i saw Zhao Jinhua cut up alan budi like chop liver.
Yes, indeed he is the olympic champions...I just highlight some factors which might influence his way to the crown...He has won that big tournament, but he still need to prove to win AE, and WC....which he never won them... And Asian Championship is often held without the present of the Chinese good player....so everyone has the same chance to win... I don't want to say that Chinese have greater chances to win, but if in a tournament, they present the best team performance, no doubt it will be a very tough job for others..since most of them, also in men singles have a stable performance... You are right jcl49, Taufik is not a sportman...I remembered that TC 2002....eventhough the judgement may not fair for him, he still need to respect Lee TS...what a bad bad etiquette !!!
rayeraye, thx for the links, that helps eventhough I, myself, can not read Chinese nor my comp. can read Chinese-perhaps other people can read and translate them??.... Anyway, I just want to add my opinion. And to a sense, I'm speaking on behalf on other pro players. IMO, I don't see any purpose posting those comments. Besides, if anyone of you noticed, all of them are "negative" comments coming from Taufik, not a single "positive" remarks/comments. It seems like he's being labeled as the "black sheep" in badminton. You have to also consider that: 1. the media tends to twist and take things out of context and to a certain degree manipulate and/or even change the comments. 2.And we don't know under what context were these comments made and 3.whether these were said in public or private or overheard by someone and it was misinterpreted. I'm not saying Taufik is "a good, mature, wholesome, humble or what have you person than most" at all, not at all, but one can't simply just take these things and interpret them as such. If it was said in public, then why aren't other newspapers/websites from other countries publish/post it also??Why just the Chinese newspaper(s)/website reporting??..Last, let's all not judge one person by such comments. Sure Taufik can be called "arrogant/big-headed and all", esp. after he won the Olympics, even I would call him that, maybe more of a "selfish comments" *IF* indeed he did/said those comments. But I'm sure other pro player(s) is/are the sama as him and have said one thing or another similar to those comments. Hey, even all of us, I myself, whether consciously or not, have been guilty of doing/saying such thing(s) "to a certain degree" in our lifetime.. Anyhoo, no big deal. Regarding your post, sorry if i felt this way, but personally the comments or reports given by those sources/links, and to a certain extent posted by you serves no other purpose other than to stir up more talks in here. Which unfortunately(for some people)/fortunately(for some people) has achieved its damage(s).
correction the olympic is the highest profile event but i usually dont use the olympic event to gauge player's ability and talent. Remember that shon (KOR) got the silver, is shon that much better than chinese and danish MS players? Current world ranking of taufik and shon is 8th and 23th at the moment. Does that mean anything?
come on guys... can we really thurst these sources??? i dont think so.. i know taufik, he's a nice guy if u are just nice to him. and even if he said those things, whats wrong then? why cant he says what he wants/think?? Taufik never let people messin' with him and is not scared of anybody, i think he learnt tht during his childhood, when he and his family had to fight for everything they had. I even think its cool to say this (even tough im not sure these quotes are taufiks words). This give badminton some extra tension..
I still remember all the bad line calls that Taufik got in this match. And with Lee Tsuen Seng playing along with all of the decisions (when he obvious would have known the correct decision), it is no wondered Taufik didn't shake his hand. I didn't expect him to either.
I do agree that he is arrogant. But sometimes we need these kind of players to entertain people like us.. it make the game more interesting.
i always think that top player need a little arrogance/self-esteem/whatever u want to call it... gives them the confidence even when they know they are up against someone better no?
Still my idol Bottom line, Taufik is an extremely talented player, no doubt as you don't win Olympic by pure luck. He's also arrogant in many ways which great players tend to possess, nothing wrong with that either as it may serve as motivation and we all just expressing our view about him. Taufik talent on court is not in debate here rather is his off court talent. Taufik is still my favourite.
I think we must keep in mind that the interview was done by chinese reporters, and probably translated several times (first to chinese, then to english...), so the text might be quite far from its original meaning... more Taufik interview was posted here : http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23747
Taufik will go down as one of the greats, but he will also be remembered as the arrogant spoilt brat. He cannot escape that.
Definitely agree with you! So lets blame in on the media, haha For Taufik fans and Lin Dan fans, cool down, do not be provoked
Against Lin Dan, he has better technique so it's not hard to beat Lin Dan. Against Bao Chun Lai, technique is only part of the game. I'm having a problem following his line of reasoning! Without doubt, he is a great badminton player...but what is he outside the badminton court? Looks like Mike Tyson outside the boxing ring to me.
I second this, this could be a chinese media tactic to motivate Chinese team. With all due respect to Danish team, It seems that the press is anticipating China - Indo in the final. Is there any media other than Chinese one that has published this interview? Taufik might be a cocky player, but I am kinda doubting the credibility of this interview.
One other thing I should add about Taufik H. From all Indonesia MS players they all got the same coach , Joko Suprianto except him. In 2004, for couple of weeks he refused to train with Joko and trained alone by himself. He said he didn't like Joko style of coaching. He demand PBSI (Indonesia badminton organization) to get his old coach , Mulyono (If I am not wrong) or else he won't train with any other coach. Because PBSI dying to win some title from MS, and Taufik is very talented, they agree to his term. He is the only player from all Indonesia players now who got his own private coach. Yes Taufik is talented and he proved it by winning Olympic gold. But only in Indonesia that he can do that arrogant demand. And PBSI gave some bad example to other Indonesia players that players can do what they want if they are talented and can win some major title. I prefer Sony than Taufik. Sony is not as talented as Taufik but he is not arrogant. He willingly work and train hard. When he lost to a player, he never offer any excuses , example he is not fit etc or just too tired from yesterday fight.
This is just total rubbish, to win a *tournament* luck can be very decisive when separating several equals. It might even make for some one-in their lifetime winners. Not to take anything from JR/Rikke, but their victory over KDM/RKM was because of "luck". They knew they would lose most of the times against this pair, but also knew that one day they would win. "Luck" made it to be they won the most important one of all their encounters. Our friends from down-under call tell how a olympic gold was won in Salt Lake 2002 That was hilarious to watch So in a *single* tournament like the olympics luck can, and *will*, be of importance. To be ranked no1 needs more than luck in *one* tournament (match), it takes to be able to win a little more, or be that much better constantly, over a long time. However I am happy that Taufik won in Athens, at last being able to take advantage of his extreme talent (and training). He had done all preparations correct to be in form, and he had the *luck* with avoiding injuries. / mats
The dude is lucky that he is not living in NYC or LA. Let's see the reply after he throws a fist at somebody.