So, with this victory in the All-England, Mohd Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan further solidify their position as the World No 1 MD pair. 3 major titles already so far: World Championships (2013), World Super Series Finals (2013) and All-England SSP (2014) Other big titles include: Indonesia Open SSP (2013), Malaysia Open SS (2013), Singapore Open SS (2013), Japan SS (2013) The remaining targets this year: World Championships (hopefully, they can retain their title) Asian Games Individual Event (with no participation from LYD, Endo/Hayakawa and Liu/Qiu will probably their biggest threats) Thomas Cup (hopefully can help Team INA secure a Final placing?) and hopefully other Super Series that they have yet to win like India, Australia (new one), Denmark, French, China, and Hong Kong. Note that Hendra Setiawan has already won the last 4 SS events and an Australian Open GPG title with Markis Kido.
Congratulation for Hendra/Ahsan for winning All England MD Title! Btw, for Hendra usually very high standard of play, i feel like he little bit under performed in this final. He looked too focus/very tense. On the other hand, big credit for Ahsan as he played incredibly both on smashing and nett play, pressuring Endo/kenichi all over the court. Man of the match!
I am pretty sure/optimistic after collecting this big All England title, hendra/ahsan will have less pressure on themselves on collecting other big title such as up coming WC 2014 and Gold Asian Games 2014. Cause in my opinion hendra/ahsan biggest enemy is themselves whether they can perform their very best of play or not. If they can perform their best play i am pretty sure hendra/ahsan is indeed no 1 world MD players.
yes.. hendra played like not always... he seem little bit freezed... any how congratulation to them for winning the All England 2014
http://www.badzine.net/news/world-championships-down-to-2-title-defenders/31884/ They had to withdraw from next weeks WCs... Bad news! I hoped for a HS/MA vs. LYD/YYS final
Is there any source about how long it will last/how many tournaments he will miss? I feel very bad for him.
Just an update as this pair has already accomplished one of the other remaining targets for this year, beating the more fancied Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong in a thrilling Final. Too bad Ahsan was still injured for the WC but I think they would not have won the Asian Games title today if they were to compete in the WC. In terms of the Thomas Cup, they also beat Lee/Yo en-route to the SF where they surprisingly lost to Hoon Thien How/Tan Boon Heong in another cracking 3rd-set (losing 21-23, despite having match pt). As for other remaining targets this year, they will surely compete in Denmark & China SSP. But not sure about HKG SS. They will be split temporarily for the French SS. Hendra will partner Rian, whereas Ahsan will partner Angga. I think they are also likely to compete at the BWF SS Finals once again (ranked 4 now with 4 more SS remaining). So, that should be 3 more tourneys before the end of the year.
Thanks for the update. Why on earth did PBSI decide to test the pairing of Hendra/Rian, Ahsan/Angga? If for rejuvenation, won't it make more sense to pair them with the juniors?
