Yes, no doubt that he is the current best player in Indonesia (compared with Sony and Simon) but if he is to be compared with players from China and Denmark, then.....
Yeah... I think Taufik Hidayat from Indonesia has a chance to win the gold too. BUt I think he is an unstable player, especially his emotional. However, I think he is the only one Indonesian who has a chance to reach the gold. Although Sony has also great skills, but I think he need more experience. Peter Gade is also a good player, but now I think his playing is decreasing, in comparison to a few years ago. Lin Dan has a great chance to win, if all goes normally. I mean he will be seeded first. I hope his route in the next olympics will be very advantageous to him. Lin Dan has everything (power,skills, mental,defend, etc), so he has the biggest chance to win. I think other players who have chances to beat LIN DAN are only his countrymen, like Xia Xuanze and Bao Chunlai. I want China win the gold. Hehehehe. Wo Ai Zhongguo ! Zhong Guo Dui Jia You !! LIN DAN Jia You !
i voted SONY!!!! he's the best indo player curently i think.. who's better sony or taufik?? let's see who'll win that..
Poul erik höyer wasnt just a one hitter like ji xinpeng. Höyer has shown that he was a world class player in several occasions. Won all england twice and got the gold medal in atlanta. he has also achieved to be in 2 semifinals in WC 97 and 99 and won major granprix tournaments so I wouldnt compare him with Xinpeng and Kusuma.
Go for Gold !!! Taufik !!! Why isn't anyone mentioning Chen Hong anymore ? Although he had performed badly in recent times. But he still the second seed for this tournament too. I believe that he could bring a medal in for China. But I believe that Taufik would be able to win him thorugh his great defensive skills. Generally, he has quite a chance to win the gold for Indonesia. He could engage in defensive and offensive play well. And in TC 2004, he had proved that he had regained his form after the return of his personal coach, Mulyo. Therefore, I believe that he doesn't lack the abilty to win the hot favourites like Lin Dan, Chen Hong, Lee Hyun II, Peter Gade and of course his compatriot, Sony. But if he were to meet Bao Chun Lai (Someone he could not beat easily) in the early rounds, then ... ...
Taufik is not a stable player, he can play extremly good for 1 set and be completely worst for the other one. He seems to have trouble with his serve lately. He's also very smooth and calm compared to Lin Dan. Lin Dan on the other side is very fast and aggressive. He seems to be a slow starter but become really hard to beat as game goes on. From what I've seen lately, it seems that Lin Dan likes to play with his opponent mind, like someone else in BF said earlier : walking on the court, delay oponent serve, refuse changing shuttle... I think the final is gonna be against these 2 even tough Id like Sony to win. Another thing i'd liek to add is, watching Taufik game is much more interestign than Lin Dan because Taufik seems to be alot more technical and has more fluidity than Lin Dan. Also, Lin Dan doesn't really show sportmanship, I hope a player with a better personality on the court will win.
I agree with you. Lin Dan doessn't really show sportmanship during the Thomas Cup final. I prefer Wong Choon Hann, Xia or BAo to win. However other players like Gade, Chen Hong, Lee Hyun Il might stand a chance too.
Lin Dan seems to have change a lot to me. i remember early on when he won his first to titles he was very much a 'showman' and played very well to the crowd. lately the pressure seems to be getting to him a bit and seems to have so much on his mind. i hope chen hong can make a comeback. i dont think the china squad is banking on him too much so this lack of pressure might work in his way. the thought of him reachieving his top form after his injury also might catch his opponents off gaurd. personally i think Sony is the best bet but my money is on chen hong. cai yu chen hong cai yu chen hong!!!!!!
Taufik I am a Singaporean and hope that Ronald Susilo could win the gold for Olympics. Btw why isnt he included in the vote ? Despite that, I hope that Taufik Hidayat could regain his form. I feel that he definitely could exert pressure on Lin Dan. And according to WorldBadminton.net, they have not met since 2001 ABC. Can go check out http://www.worldbadminton.net/Porta...name1=LIN&firstname2=Taufik&lastname2=HIDAYAT .
Xia Xuan ZE Is xia xuan ze actually playing in the 2004 olympics?...because i read in the IBF site that he isn't (he wasn't on the list)...but i really hope that he is. The last time i saw him play was at the 2003 WC...and he was awesome...but to me..he sort of disappeared...i don't see him anymore...he wasn't at the All England thing.....and he's only ranked number 8?!?!?...i thought he was better than that....
Should Malaysian Open Champion, Lee CW, and runner-up, Park, be included in the list also? Together, they beated 6 out of the 9 players in the list.
That's true. Park and Hafiz Hashim will be sorely missed. Lee CW is only a darkhorse, as coach Misbun said. Then again, he's about same age as Lin Dan/Bao. So maybe he can surprise us if he believes enough. Maybe Chen Hong/Wong CH/Gade could lift their games and win. They still had the energy and massive loads of experience. I prefer them rather than the younger guys Lin/Bao/Lee CW/Sony/Taufik (can wait another 4 years). These guys deserve a great parting gift before retirement.
The sad fact is that the Olympic cycle (once every 4 years) is slower than cycle of top stars. Today, Lin Dan is acknowledged as the best in the world. What are the odds of him being the best 4 years later. In fact, for some players, they may be too young for this Olympics and too old for the next one.
I'm sure that's only applicable to China. They churn out quality players like manufacturing plants, they've begun exporting them too. Players from other nations have a much longer "shelf-life". It wasn't that way in the 80s-90s. Masters like Han Jian, Yang Yang, Zhao Jianhua had long playing careers. It's quite possible the Chinese extreme training regime emphasizes peak performance but sacrifices players' longevity.
I agree that the Chinese players tend to have shorter playing careers but this is really not that much different now than then. If my memory serves me correctly, both Yang Yang and Zhao Jianhua retired around when they were in their mid 20's (not more than 27, I think). But they won a lot before retiring. Besides the fact that China churns out more talented players regularly as pointed out, another theory of mine is that this could also be due to the playing style. The attacking players tend to have shorter playing life spans - many of the Chinese players tend to fall into this category (maybe due to the same sort of training as suggested). The jumping actions put a lot of strain on the body and increases the probability of injury (to the knees especially). Therefore many players from the other countries enjoy longer playing career partially due to their playing style as well - Morten Frost, Foo Kok Keong, Roslin Hashim. In fact even Han Jian. Their strehgths lie less with the leaping smashes. Heryanto Arbi also had a kind of a shortened career with his super attacking play. The latter years of his career was marked with dwindling form most of which can be attributed to his constant knee injury.
