Let us all AGREE on 1 thing The attitude and confidence of Chinese Teams are of another level. They come back from behind every SINGLE TIME XD-Lost set 1 but came back and won 2 sets MD-" Tower dudes" as labelled by Quentin also came back from behind and Won. WD-New Screaming Queen and YF Jia came back from behind and took the game completely away from their opponents. MS-In all honesty I admire Chen Long a lot especially with YONEX t shirt but never expected him to take the SET 3 in that manner. Hats off the Chinese players and their coaches to instill this mentality in them. Perhaps a lesson to learn for many. Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk
I'm not sure why you think this Olympics is a short tournament. It's about the same length of a Super Series. In fact, the Olympics has an extra round compared to the Super Series because there are two matches in the Group Play stage. I don't think age is vastly overrated here. Youth not only helps with stamina and energy, it helps with recovery time too. Recovery time is important because your muscles fatigue over the duration of a tournament and younger players will recover the muscles faster than a player over 30 years of age.
Yeah, LZJ was moving very well in the 3rd set. And he still had a lot of energy in his jump smashes. He didn't look that tired at all, compared to CL. But LZJ kept making so many unforced errors. I'm not sure what happened, perhaps LZJ lost his confidence and felt he had to play tighter shots to win.
I'm watching it here, except that it's not very reliable either, you have to keep refreshing the page/website and trying all the livestreams available until one works. http://www.zhuafan.tech/channeltypes/Badminton
Yes and you can recover even if you are over 30. It's the accumulation of multiple tournaments that happen in short succession that kills. And yes, Olympics is one short tournament. It's literally 6 matches long assuming you make the final. That's short.
Looks like a lot of new viewers to badminton here are starting to learn that the Olympics is the ultimate test of mental strength
Perhaps this year China's CCP celebrate 100 years anniversary and the Olympic contingent is extra motivated to win honors for the country.
The smashes were powerful, but he wasn't able to get in a position to hit it (ofc the many mistakes and comparatively worse shot quality didn't really allow him to). He won quite a lot of points in the first set with his extremely fast backwards movement from the net and thunderous smashes combined with this movement, but he wasn't able to move at that pace during the 3rd and parts of the 2nd game.
Well, I disagree with you. Both LCW and LD both faltered after their semi-finals in 2016, precisely because they tired each other out in their semi-final match. LD could not keep pace against Viktor Axelsen in the bronze medal match, and LCW could not keep pace against Chen Long in the gold medal match, because both LCW and LD were running on fumes the day after the semi-finals. I recall it was either Chen Long, Lin Dan, or the head coach Li Yongbo in an interview after Rio 2016, saying something like Chen Long won the gold because LD helped to tire out LCW in the semi-finals. That was known among the China team that if they could tire out LCW by the finals, the other Chinese player had a better chance of beating him.
For sure, LZJ had way more unforced errors in the 3rd set. He was there in position to hit the shuttle, but kept hitting it out or hitting the net. Perhaps it's also related to him being more tired than the 1st set. I'm not really sure. For me, LZJ still looked fresh enough in the 3rd set (if you want to see tired players, go watch how Viktor Axelsen won his first World Tour Finals in Dubai - Viktor was super tired and could barely even stand in the 3rd set against Tian Houwei).
The same goes for Momota, the first hint of mental weakness was him crumbling down vs SYQ when he was under immense pressure to take the deciding match for Japan at Sudirman cup. Some players just can't play their normal game when they're carrying the pressure of teammates and the nation behind their back. Mental strength is no guarantee of winning the OG, but it sure as hell is a necessary requirement.
I knew it would a test of mental strength. But I learnt that not all teams came mentally prepared. In my mind this is the Olympics and it is the ultimate tourney of each of these players. I expected them to come prepared mentally and physically and strategically. I expected them to give their absolute all and best. I expected all of them to dive to get shuttles instead of just watching it going away. In a match where you are being dominated from the beginning, I expected the players to keep fighting no matter what keep hanging on. Basically I expected everyone to become Vittinghus. It doesn't matter if you are tensed, it doesn't matter if you are not at your optimum level and it doesn't matter if you are choking. I expected them despite all of that to never give up on a single shuttle. But unfortunately I also learnt that it is not the case.
Apparently LZJ has an injury on his right wrist & the Dr tended to it. But there are comments he looks like in pain. Later when the post match interview is published I'll see what LZJ or his coach says.
Yeah, that's what I saw too. Compared to CL, LZJ didn't look all that much more tired than CL by the 3rd set. LZJ was still moving and getting to the shots, and he still had a nice jump and that big smash in the 3rd set. But LZJ made so many unforced errors. Maybe LZJ getting a little more tired by the 3rd set led to those unforced errors. It's really a head scratcher though because physically, he wasn't showing that he was all that more tired than CL by the 3rd set.
Its not tiredness, but pain on his wrist cos his fell smack on his right wrist in 1st set. I didnt notice that cos my internet is off & on but quite a number of Msian fans who watched on tv commented on it.