Malaysia better win tonight to enter SF, or else face the wrath of the Malaysian badminton fans, especially the Malaysians who at the stadium there tonight...
Out of curiosity, why do you say March 1st? The BWF says the 'seeding date' is February 22nd. This is a big difference given that March 1st rankings would include Swiss and Austrian Opens. Also, it appears that Korea will have about 230,000 points by next week as Jeon, Lee, and Seo/Kim will all go up with their team points, while Lee, Liew, and Goh/Tan will stay the same.
Ng ka Long Angus is a class player. Wong WinkiVinc is a quality player Lee Chieuk Yu is a fighting opponent
LCW is a World Class player. Lee Zii Jia is a Quality player. Iskandar Zulkarnain - Sure lose one hahahaha
Frankly, ,I don't see any mystery as defending champion CHN and host nation THA are both automatically qualified for the Uber Cup regardless of their results here. Besides, both teams didn't field all their A-listers, probably more as a test run for some of their second tier players/pairs in preparation for the Uber Cup. Just my opinion.
With no livestream to watch, I can only guess that He Bingjiao probably struggled with her fitness/stamina in the 3rd set in a long, grueling hard-fought match. When holding 2 matchpoints in the decider, she failed to convert and lost the deuces 23-25. while in G2 she had to come from behind to equalize. I believe the CHN coaches will do something about it before the Uber Cup as there is no time for their annual winter training these two months due to tournament requirements.
In team championships there are more possibilities and less predictability in how each player/pair perform as pressure tends to play a significant part, esp in must-win situations, unlike in individual events. I'd always expect the unexpected.
Personally, I feel Shi Yuqi's mental strength is questionable, the more so in team events. I remember two years ago in the same Asia Team Championships held in Vietnam, he cracked under pressure when holding a hefty lead in G2 and ended up losing it and the decider as well to Kenta Nishimoto in the final.
Regarding that TUC seeding, I though the correct one is February 22, 2018 which is described as the first World Ranking date after last Continental stage tournament. I found this BadZine's article : Malaysia and Hong Kong fight for last Thomas Cup berth ....cut... Clearly, the Malaysians are in the clear if they can simply beat Hong Kong and reach the semis. If they lose, however, then Hong Kong will qualify automatically for the Thomas Cup finals and it will be down to Malaysia and Korea. If Korea wins, they too will qualify automatically as well as Thailand, which has qualified as the host. However, if both Malaysia and Korea lose, it will be decided on ranking. Here is where the BAM president was working on imperfect information. By next week, Malaysia and Korea will be almost equal in team points. Malaysia is using two singles players whose points are not currently contributing to the team ranking, while Liew Daren and Chong Wei Feng’s points will remain constant, as will Lee Chong Wei’s since BWF rules will not allow him more points than he already has from the Sudirman Cup. The same goes for their top men’s doubles pair and the only uptick they can expect from results in Alor Setar are from Lee Zii Jia and their second men’s doubles pair. Korea, in contrast, has two singles players and one doubles pair that have already ensured their rankings will increase substantially. In fact, it appears the Koreans are already assured of a spot in Bangkok with their points projected to rise to around 230,000 by next Thursday. This means that even if they lose in the quarter-finals, then they will almost certainly be a few thousand points ahead of Malaysia, meaning that the hosts need to beat Hong Kong. [Source]
LEE Chong Wei - NG Ka Long Angus 18 : 13 at the moment NG Ka Long always push the Shuttlecock to the back line and try to make Lee Chong Wei run all around the court, let see the 2nd game whether that strategy will work for him.
