Taufik will probably meet seed after seed in the Olympics. Sometimes, there's just one too many seed for you to face, but if he finally wins, it would be glorious for him.
Totally agree with you Pecheur. Now Taufik is on his way to maturity after he rejoin his former trainer Mulyono, almost arrive but not yet. If Taufik has arrived at maturity. He will be very hard to beat. The question is : how close is he to maturity. Does he has enough time for OL ?
Camilla hasn't got any serious injuries before her injury in AE Seven. You can't count her on your list and Gade and Rasmussen, especially Rasmussen has made a lot of the training as they do in China/Asia and that's perhaps why he is injured all time, like Sun Jun and Xia.
certainly Taufik had his highs and lows. his previous problems with PBSI and coaches leads to his poor performance in the past couple of years. however, they seemed to have resolved, or at least put aside, their differences. now taufik is back into training and is starting to show some results. there is not arguing that in Taufik has been one of the longest in the current circuit, most of the other top players from his early times have already retired, the other remaining being Xia and Gade. add to that his natural talent, if he trains properly and seriously, he will be a formiddable foe to the other players.
I'm not trying to argue on these precise examples, I was just saying that injury is part of pros life (and non-pros too) whatever their country and nationality. I think Europeans are often jealous of asian success in badminton and try to hide themselves behind false arguments, including this one about injuries. I once heard a french national coach who said about the asian training "they use quantity, we use quality!" (approx translation), I think this is quite ridiculous when seeing the french (and european) results! But with all the medical care and supposedly "quality" training they get, the french players are very often injured, and will even be missing a potential MD olympic qualification because of injuries... Danes do have (and have had in the past) a lot of serious injuries too, so I think this argument against China is nonsense! btw, I am European and from european origin.
IMO chinese players get injured less than they maybe should, as they train from very young, which gets your body used to it. If you do little hard training until you are 16, then turn pro, then you may get injuries, as your muscle simply arent that strong. quality vs quantity IMO china probably get better quality coaching than french squad (No offence seven, You probably agree??) Regarding Taufik, and his "experience" I define experience as Learning from what has happened to you in the past, and using this to your advantage. I say that although taufik has had a past, he has not learned from it as well as he may do. In my view, he is still a maverick player, and still plays like a 17 year old taufik.
I think I would be very biased if I didn't agree!! And being from south of France, I am very rarely biased or "nationalistic" when regarding sports, except maybe when supporting Toulouse in rugby! (but objectively, they are the best aren't they? )
That's not so sure, european rugby has been quite superior to southern rugby recently in fact, and anyway Toulouse is only a professional club not a whole province, so you can't really compare... (hmm, I think this is getting off topic though )
chance of winning olympic gold It remains guessing of course, but.... let's try to make an educated guess... Who have a chance of winning Olympic Gold? ----- Men Singles: Lin Dan, Peter Gade, Xia Xuanze, Chen Hong, Taufik, Sony, Wong Choong Hann Ladies Singles: Zhang Ning, Mia Audina, Gong Ruina, Zhou Mi. Men Doubles: Limpele/Hian and all other Indonesian pairs, Fu/Cai, Kim/Ha, Paaske/Rasmussen Mixed: Kim/Ra Zhang/Gao Ladies Doubles: Yang/Zhang Gao/Huang Ra/Lee ----- Anyone you wish to remove/add to these lists?
Injury is a part of pros live, isn't it ? The way we train can stimulate the injure. If we train from young age, our body can 'accept' all the training, because our body has already got usual of it. i.e. from 8-10 year old. The training system between Asia and Europe is not the same. Or I can say : "different". I mean in the big badminton countries My club in Indo, we do physic training not in the gym, we do jogging on the beach, we do cross country, we do hiking, we swim. To train our hand muscles, we do it in the swimming pool with a selfmade wooden racket, no string but plank, and do hit movements in the water. For a beter and quick movement, we bind our ankles with 0.5 kg sandpack each. We wear a ballast jacket. We do training with squash racket. All the training, we do it in the nature way/manner. European use more modern tools, do the physic training mostly in the gym. In my club here in Belgium, we wear no ballast jacket, sandpack. We don't train in the swimming pool or do hiking. I think with these nature manner, player will get less injure. FYI : I am Indonesian and live now in Belgium for more than 5 years.
MS : Top favorites : Taufik, Lin Dan and Peter. Black horses : Xia, Sony and Wong CH LS : Top favorites : Gong RN and Mia Black horses : Zhang N, Zhou M and Camilla MD : Top favorites : Indo's pairs and Kim/Ha Black horses : Fu/Cai and Paaske/Rasmussen LD : Top favorites : Gao/Huang and Ra/Lee Black horse : Yang/Zhang XD : Top favorite : Kim/Ra Black horses : Zhang/Gao and Nova W/Vita M
I understand how that can make your movement quicker, but how does it make it better (better=quicker??)
I wouldnt remove Mia, she is a big tournament player, and plays under pressure well. She has been improving her performances throughout the year, witness AE where she played well, but ran out of energy, then witness JO and EC, where she beat several top players in three sets. I would put Kim/lee in for a medal in XD, but not for the gold. agree with you on Xia though. he could do alright though. (QF/SF)
MS/MD/WD : agree with what has been said WS : definately keep Mia in, she's the favourite IMO XD : Widianto/Marissa can create an upset, and maybe Prapakamol/Thungthongkam too (I haven't seen their match at ABC)
Favorites, Mia Ah seems everyone pretty much agrees to the list of favorites. I think everyone will recognize Mia is definately a title candidate. She's getting quite fit now, and is one of the favorites after winning the Japanese Open and getting two gold medals last week at the European Championships (the last match was her 26th match played within 3 weeks, and despite being tired she wiped the floor with Pi). In the mixed doubles I don't believe anyone will create an upset when Kim and Ra are focused on their goal, unless something strange occurs (e.g. injury). But..... you never know.... these are the olympics...
Does anyone remember what happened at the last olympics?? I dont think Hendrawan was really favored to win at all, maybe medal at best, but then ended up winning did he not? Just goes to show, anything can happen -Kelvin PS: I'm cheering for Xia, because he's my current favorite player... based on style & flair LOL, if it came to skills, I'd cheer for Gade, Taufik, or Lin Dan... but you know what? so long as it's all tremendous badminton, and the pro's show the world especially viewers in north america what real badminton is, it wont matter to me who wins.
