taufik's long stare at lindan during the 2nd game must have finally awaken him to the reality of ld's playing skill.....
Yes, it sounds like an excuse(coming from me) but unfortunately that's the fact...I admit and stated it's quite embarrassing for Taufik to not give it his all and "give up" like that...Which he has been known for a few times before.. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not a "big" Taufik fan, but to see him play below par is quite disappointing..Same with PGade in the SF, losing so easily to Taufik in straight sets...
watching WS right now.....it isnt a game...it is an....EXECUTION!!!! am ALL SYMPATHY for the poor indonesian little girl....
which reminds me.....remember the ACCUSATION about chinese teams AGAINST EACH OTHER? that whoever wins the first game will give up the match?! maybe this is a UNIVERSAL BEHAVIOR after all.... opening bitter wounds here.....
Yes, that's his weakness(sorry if I keep on repeating).. That's why when he won the Olympic gold, some would say he was a "bit lucky" as he didn't have to play any Chinese player(s)..If he had met and played them, who knows, he might not win the Gold..
in conclusion....there is NO EXCUSE.....for taufik...if he is really as good as what he says/think he is..... only excuse would be some real physical injury...not some mental/emotional momentary weakness....true champions are above that..... just saw the dane MD lookes sad at the WS "execution"....seems they are rooting for the indos as well... and i agree....chinese army sweep wont be making badminton world as fun anymore..... who wants to watch the world fight basketball against the NBA dream team? by the way folkes...i am chinese too....
credit due to indonesian "little girl" for making zhang ning really EARN the last MATCH POINT and the sudirman cup champoionship as well...... even the great ZN musta be shakened at the girl's spirit.... but seem she did give the indo girl some slack in the 2nd game....
Erm.... taufik was all out at first, he let his guard down second game because there were far too many crooked line judges in the match, I can recall 2 times during the 1st set where some shots were clearly in and the line judge call it out. And there were 3 times where the shuttle landed in, during first half of 2nd set.. How can you go all out when you get cheated so badly during the match, Lin Dan got lucky this time playing at home with all the line judge siding him
HUH?! you think taufik or the indo coaches will let it go like that? dont think even taufik will agree with you....he certainly would react (given his history) and he graciously losses to lindan tonite. look at peter jumping up and down to the judge in the semis against taufik,his supporters also made lots of noise at that time chinese team dont need to stoop this low looking at their track record in the whole tournament(ah..unlike the koreans in their turf) crying cheating is definitely a last refuge but its not valid in this case/situation..chinese are not known for this... also there is SIGNIFICANT/lots of taufik/indo supporters in the crowd....like..... ALL the other teams....
I agree. Remember Taufik walked away from in the middle of the match in Korea a few years ago. Both he and his coach didn't mention anything about line judges after the match. His coach said Lin Dan won because he played very good. Unless the questionable line calls are proved by TV instant replays. These kind of allegations are not acceptable.
sour grapes. From what i read here, neither INA coach and taufik raised line issue during the match. If wrong line calls were made, i'm sure INA team will make noises.
Any prove or evidence? At what scores were these happened? I did not hear any complained from Taufik and INA team, and after match, Taufik shaked hand with Landan and patted him, if he saw this happen, he should have withdraw or at least complain to empire.
China exorcises 2003 demons with victory at the Sudirman Cup Sun May 15,11:12 AM ET China exorcised their demons from two years ago with a 3-0 win over Indonesia to lift the prestigious Sudirman Cup for the fifth time in nine editions of the world mixed team badminton championships. It was sweet revenge for China after their run of four consecutive victories was snapped by South Korea in 2003. They now hold all three of badminton's major team trophies following last year's success at the Thomas and Uber Cups. Indonesia, who won the inaugural biennial Sudirman Cup in 1989, were unable to match the strength and depth of the Chinese shuttlers, who did not lose a single match throughout the six-day tournament at Beijing's Capital Gymnasium. Zhang Jun and Gao Ling opened China's account with a 12-15, 15-5, 15-8 win over Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir in the opening mixed doubles rubber. As was the case in Saturday's semi-final against against two-time winners South Korea, Zhang employed his trademark ferocious smashes to good effect, punishing any deep returns, while Gao was her usual predatory self at the net. The Chinese duo, who won the gold medal at the Athens Olympics last year, lost the absording first game but bounced back immediately, capitalising on a number of unforced errors by their opponents to take the second. In the deciding game Zhang and Gao squandered two match points but eventually converted the third with a rare service ace to send the crowd wild. The second rubber, the men's singles, produced the match of the tournament, with China's world number one Lin Dan taking on Taufil Hidayat, the Athens Olympic gold medallist. Both showed incredible sleight of hand, dancing around the court in a series of stunning rallies. The 21-year-old Lin shot off to a 4-0 lead but after that they matched each other shot for shot. Lin, however, held his nerve to clinch the first game 17-15, and then outthought his opponent to take the second game 15-9 and give China their second point. The left-hander celebrated his win with an exuberant leap into the crowd. Zhang Ning, the women's world number two, cemented China's fifth Sudirman Cup victory with an 11-1, 11-7 demolition of Fransisca Hari. "I tried to play a more controlled game to try and force Taufik into being impatient. I think it worked very well," said the left-handed Lin following his victory over his fierce rival. "I am delighted to have got the point for the Chinese team," he added. Given China's seemingly non-stop production line of shuttlers few would bet against them retaining the title when the Sudirman Cup travels to Glasgow in 2007.
Ummm... ALL the line judges siding him? That statement is going too far and beyond just defending Taufik's lack of "going all out" in that match. That's an extremely serious accusation especially against the country that's hosting the event. You have to be pretty confident of the facts before you make that accusation because it takes away from Lin Dan's victory and it takes away from China's victory. Are you really prepared to do that even the entire Indo team that was there didnt make similar observations and neither the coach nor the player has made any type of complaint? Are you prepared to say the Indo's coach was not doing his JOB ? Because after all, if you are the coach and you didnt complain after at least 5 + bad line calls that you claimed you arent really doing your job, are you ? Secondly, since the outcome of this Sudirman's cup is already decided after the first match which is the Mixed Doubles, it would seem incredibly foolish for the line judges to make bad calls favoring Lin Dan intentionally while knowing that cameras are covering every single shot with frequent instant replays in slow motion. To say there were more than 5 bad line calls seems beyond logic. Finally, when you blame his loss to the line calls, dont you think that if a player stops fighting for the victory after a few "BAD" calls in the first set knowing he is playing in a team tournament does not demonstrate quality of a true champion? To think the Olympic Gold medal winner would just give up a match in the Sudirman's Cup is just unthinkable. These players are professionals and they should know by now that line judges are not perfect and if there is a bad call the best thing is not letting it bother him/her and not letting the calls determine the outcome of the match.
Lin Dan a better one, today I watched the whole match and it was fairly officiated. Lin Dan beat Taufik fair and square in China, that was the fact and no one should deny that. However, it doesn't mean Taufik can't beat Lin Dan on their next meet in neutral ground like the coming Malaysia and Singapore Opens before heading to World Championship. Folks, the drama just begins ... Taufik had his opportunity but did not capitalize it and it was very clear from game 1 how Taufik wanted to play against Lin Dan - exploating LD's back hand. The main reason Taufik lost was due to way too many unforce errors. Taufik did do 1 thing right that many others weren't able to do while against Lin Dan, limit Lin Dan attack from fore hand, if possibile. Lin Dan showed his weakness on defense and had no answer to Taufik's smashes on game1 but somehow Taufik did not smash a lot on game 2. Oevrall, it was an excellent match.
no doubt Lin Dan is on top of his game at this particular moment but one thing I've noticed about his serve, he moves his racket hand a few times before he makes his service, isn't this a violation of some sort? I've read somewhere that during the execution of a serve, the first instance you swing your racket hand backward you should continue to swing it forward to hit or miss the shuttle? can anyone enlighten me on this? I stand corrected if my observation is wrong.
Well practically when u play on home ground and most of the line judge who are chinese will tend side their favorite, Lin Dan... But anyway there is no need to get all berserk about this... Because it wont change the fact that Taufik lost tha match Well there was 1 clear shot... where the shuttle clearly landed in and it was called out... that was during 12-11 1st set when Taufik was leading... and then it was called out and took Lin Dan to level... And that made a huge huge psychological advantage... And when you are playing against one of the fastest player on the court and battling with the entire crowd.. it was a very crucial point... And there were also few shot landed in that never get replayed in the second match and you can see Taufik was fustrated by this.. Anyway Taufik wont cry like what he did few years back.... hes a true champ and has professional attitude on court nowadays... he accepted his defeat without any complain, hehe I cant imagine if Lin Dan lost... he will blame this and that and cry Anyway well done to Lin Dan, and indeed what an arragont player he is for quoting "... he thought he could beat everyone after his gold medal, thats why he said all that in the press..." (when Taufik already lost to Bao right after Olympic) I guess we have to wait till the next tournament to see how well he live up to the title as world #1
Yes, i noticed that also..In the 2nd set, Taufik for some reason didn't do a lot of jumpsmashes..While I was watching, I was wondering could it be he is out of gas and/or suddenly become tired??..What's wrong??.. But overall, throughout the match, I didn't feel Taufik had any "bounce" in his steps, very rarely. It seemed like there is no fire and confidence, rather a cautious and tight gameplan..I did not see the match which he won over LinDan in the Indonesian Open last December(3 sets), but I would like to see that match and compare it with yesterday's match.. All I can summed up from this SC tourney is that, in a team tournament like this, you need mental and strong teamwork to succeed. I thought Indo's mental and teamwork failed during the Final. Overall, I am quite disappointed by Taufik's performance(I'm not "blaming" him). But as the ace player on the team, he should not have that "give-in" attitude and lack of fighting spirit. If he was the captain of the team, he should show his other compatriots/teammates that he will fight and sacrifice til the end and show that they will not give-in/lose easily. If he was able to win against LinDan, at least he can force a 4th game in MD(where I'm sure most if not everyone in here wanted to watch), where who knows the Indos can pull it off, then it will be up to the WD to decide it all. But by "not giving it all", esp. after saying he wanted to play and defeat LinDan @ his homecourt in the previous day's press meet, and losing in straight sets, basically he squandered the chance of forcing a 4th game and basically kills any chance for the Indos. I don't know about what you guys think, but personally that attitude is not acceptable, esp. as the player everyone in the team is counting on as a pt. maker. If he gave it all, which I'm sure he's capable of and still loses to LinDan, then I have no excuse to make for him. But the fact is, he wasn't prepared for a long battle, could it be he realize the XD had lost, thus even if he wins, there is no chance anyway??..Thus he failed to show teamwork to the rest of his teammates/coaches... I just hope he and the rest of the Indos team can learn from this experience and make good use of it for the rest of the competitions up til the next SC.. Just my 2 cents..
why would line judges be bias against taufik when: 1. when china won the xd, the sudirman cup is in the bag. LD's win or lost is irrelevant to the final outcome. It's more of a personal showdown. 2. peter gade feel 3 bad line calls against him, why would chinese line judges here favor taufik? I dont see danish fans here complaining about line calls on that match 3. about LD's arrogant quote, well, he accomplished what he said didnt he? 4. 'wait till other tournaments to see how well he live up to his title'. Hmm, i thot he owns many titles already
