LGP Day 2 report OK, so to day 2 of the London Grand Prix, and now we have 5 courts: Carolina Marin (ESP) gets a warm up from Lene Clausen (DEN), and comes through 21 – 15, 21 – 13 with a few of her characteristic shouts: Joachim Perrson couldn’t recreate the ease of yesterday, and after trailing 11- 2 in the first game, left himself too much to do against Yuxian Huang (CHN) and went down 26- 24 in the second: Henri Hurskainen (SWE) played an intelligent match against a too laid back Nan Wei (HKG): while earlier, Scott Evans (IRL) had a good victory against Yan Kit Chan (HKG) and Rajiv Ouseph enjoyed a popular win over Vitaly Konov (UKR) and will meet Hsu Jiu Ting (TPE) tomorrow. The concourse has an Adidas concession and racket stringers: Back on court we saw Michelle Chan Ky (NZ): whilst the prize for the most elegant court attire goes to Sashina Vignes Waran (FRA): Undoubtedly the story of the day was, however, Wang Xin who struggled against Lena Kjaesfeldt (DEN), allowing Lena two match points in the second game, before coming back and then winning the third relatively easily: Denmark’s investment in Lena is clearly now paying off, and it is certainly now possible to see a successor to Tine. And now for a sight rarely seen in International Badminton – a ladies singles match between two English players: On this occasion the valliant Sarah Milne was the victor against Chloe Birch, but credit is due to all concerned in supporting both players, as well as Panuga Riou who lost out to Kristina Gavnholt (CZE). Victor Axelsen was in fine form against Brice Leverdez (FRA): winning 21 – 16, 21 – 15, whilst Sayaka Sato continued her comeback with a nice two game victory over Porntip: Somebody commented on the lighting – here it is: didn’t notice amy players looking up at it accusingly. This venue is to be a community sports venue, and badminton clubs in the area should certainly look to establish themselves here. There was a good crowd in for a Wednesday, and the event feels like it will be a success. Till tomorrow, smautf
The qualifier Sayaka Sato surprised Porntip, 22-20 / 21-19, two close games. While the other qualifier Wang Xin survived from the brink of losing, 18-21 / 22-20 / 21-10. Line Kjaersfeldt is expected to become Tine Baun successor, looks promising. Two INA back up MS, Riyanto and Wisnu will face Malaysian former World Junior Champ Zulkiffli and Finnish Ville Lang respectively today. R/16 order to play (starting time : 02.00pm) => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/matches.aspx?id=8F919726-8CA0-416B-B84C-D1895410EC71
My theory: Still got LD the hero of the CPC- I mean badminton god, CL the dragon/heir prince, DPY the Spartan, and WZM the next future king. These dudes are reliable enough for the next 4 years. Zhou Wenlong, Huang Yuxiang, Qiao Bin, Tian HW, Song Xue, etc etc? Queue, kids.
This talk of too many tournaments is lame. Players have to decide with their coaches their strategy of entering which tournaments and decide on the logistics. More tournaments means more players and more opportunities for professionals. Indirectly, it shows the game is getting more popular and more people have a chance to watch live badminton at international level. Of course, walkovers are not nice to see. So qualifying rounds are good backup for promotion to main rounds.
Thanks for your alternative view. Will be very foolish of LYB/CBA to put all the eggs in one basket. Surely they have to learn from what happened to WL and WX.
Yes. But it's going to be even tougher for Tian HW and Huang YX later against the top 2 seeds, JOJ and HKV, respectively. All the more reason, these CHN young guns need more international exposure to toughen them and, hopefully, get a taste of success and fame as THW did not long ago when beating Lee CW in the AUS Open GPG - such invigorating experience can only serve to motivate and spur them on more than anything else could.
i think tian houwei's chance of overcoming JOJ is better than 50%. THW is a patient fighter. he will wear down JOJ with his tireless defense. JOJ's chance of winning G1 is high, and his chance of winning the match is if he can build a 10-pt lead in G2.
Both Song Xue and Tian made it, even though Tian Houwei's known "ceiling" is to be able to win a match with LCW I still wonder if he would have been able to win this one hadn't he had 2 "retirees" in his first 2 matches. And Nico and Amanda lost out, could almost have won it in 2. Not that surprised by the Viktor-Henri score, perhaps I thought Henri would get a few more though.
Paul the psychic octopus couldn't have done better. THW is definitely more confident in himself now after that win against LCW. Huang YX had the misfortune of meeting a player whose stroke making was simply too good today. Tomorrow's match between Xue Song and Victor Axelsen will be very interesting with no one having a psychological edge over the other, but I noticed that the young Dane is in very good form.
