The first part of your statement is correct (nation above self). But that's exactly why they are giving the top most priority to the Olympics and not to the badminton event called Thomas Cup. In case you don't know yet, this year's Olympics will be held in China. Also, China has a realistic chance of topping the medals tally. That's why it is of utmost importance for all China athletes to peak for the Olympics. Every single gold medal counts! (The last Olympics in 2004, China was #2 with 28 gold medals. USA had just 4 more.) Although we fan boys are crazy for TC but it is nothing compared to the Olympics, no matter how you slice it. Yes they wanted to win this Thomas Cup, on the condition that it won't jeopardise their Olympics chances. That means playing while keeping in mind not to injure themselves, and key players not to play thru injury. And I can't rule out the possibility that LYB was making use of TC for the benefit of their Olympic chances. For example, letting LCW win against LD isn't a bad thing. Now LCW is the greatest threat to LD's gold medal. As we all know, M'sian players can win only if they are the underdogs. Same for LCW. If he enters Olympics as the underdog, he is dangerous for LD. But if he defeats LD before Olympics, then he is not considered the underdog anymore, and there would be expectations for LCW to beat LD again during Olympics. Then most likely he won't. If I were LYB i'd think that it's worth it to throw away 1 point in the TC semifinals in exchange for a 20% increase in the chances for this year's Olympics men singles gold medal. Besides, LYB probably thought that they are strong enuf to still defeat M'sia even after LD gives up one point. Think about it: TC is held once every 2 years. Olympics will be held in China probably once every 30 years at least.
LYB could not hide LD and BCL until after they had secured all 3 men singles spots for Olympics. To defeat the quota of maximum 2 participants from each country, LD & BCL & Chen Jin had to be ranked very high (I don't remember the exact criteria). That's why LD & BCL had to keep entering tournaments earlier this year in order to clear away the obstacles so that Chen Jin could score as many points as possible (case in point: All England 2008).
TC and OG I agree that OG is more important to LYB than TC. And therefore I agree that (for example) LD is not in his peak form. But to say that he is "hiding" his major weapons or didn't want to win is going too far. Watch the videos. Did LD look like he didn't care? Furthermore the same is true for many other countries. For example, Nathan Robertson chose not to attend TC due to minor injury, Robert Blair has no injury, but still chose not to come because he wants to prepare for OG. Next, there is so far no "story of success" of the strategy of "hiding". TH didn't hide any new skill or new tactic before OG04, WC05, and AG06. In particular one month before WC05 he beat the hell out of LD (WC05 would be a counter-example if LD was "hiding" anything in Singapore 05 ); LD didn't hide anything before WC06, 07. Is there a single example that deliberately losing (when you are in fact able to win that particular match) leading to winning a big title? Now about LD/LYB "letting" LCW win. It would be a good strategy if LD just walked around on court and played in a lazy way like HH. That way LCW would be frustrated since he knew LD didn't want to win. But LD actually tried hard in TC and still lost to LCW tamely. Such a bigwin will boost much LCW's confidence against LD (which is definitely bad news for LD). Finally, I doubt LYB has the courage to deliberately giving TC up. No one can guarantee his "secret weapons" (if there is any) will work in OG. There is a substantial possibility that China cannot do as good as Sydney. In that case, of course he will be blamed for OG failure, but his "enemies" will also use his "deliberate losing" in TC to attack him. So overall, my opinion is: It's very likely that LD is not in his 100% form, but he definitely didn't deliberately lose to LCW. And this bad loss to LCW will have negative effect on LD's confidence.
Yep Lin Dan has been number 1 virtually consistently since 2003. If his opponents don't know what his game is now, they are really not doing there job properly. I have watched him since then, and he certainly hasn't changed his game style since then. Yes I agree that Olympics is higher profile to the general public, and contributes towards the china medal tally. But I don't know how you think that giving LCW victory against LD will increase LD chances of beating him in OG. This will give LCW confidence, which is his biggest weakness in his game. At the end of the day I don't believe CHN would give up the thomas cup. There are only Four Major Events in Badminton, TC/UC, SC, OG & WC. It is foolish to think any team would give this up. If we take a look at this TC, we will see the two important games, Against MAS in SF and KOR in Final we will see : -In the SF despite as you put it CHN "gave" LCW victory against LD to make it 1-0 and although they were only, as others have put it "in 1st or 2nd Gear" they still managed victory against MAS top doubles pair against the pair who are apparently in tough secret training which has drained their energy to play well, then in MS3 CJ looking to protect himself for the vastly more important OG -which is all china are interested in this year of course- manages to injure himself and instead of retiring like he should do to protect himself for the important OG, he plays on to carry to avoid the bad sportmanship of retiring in the flagship event he simply plays in pain and doesn't strain himself further and loses gallantly........................oops sorry no he didn't he kept playing hard and fought a victory to enable his oh so tired teammates to play another day. -In the final LD who does not want to strain himself manages to pull himelf into three games (I assume this is because he wanted to give his tired teamates a bit more rest before they had to play. either that or he wanted to play his "fake" game for longer so his opponents wouldhave more chance to study the wrong LD!) Then his MD colleagues come up against the Best MD pair in the world on recent form and take the game to 25-23, making a comeback in the process. Then Poor fatigued bao, managed to push the comeback kid LHI to 28-26 in the first end (exposing his lack of stamina in the process- that was clever of CHN), finally china's 2nd MD get bored with playing the 2nd gear match play, get bored and decide to just win as quick as possible and go home (or do you tihnk this was KOR counter tactic?! these conspiracies are really confusing:crying To summarise my view in the End CHN didn't give it up, they won after all...LYB is one of, if not the most decorated coaches of all time. He did not become this decorated by letting rivals win tournaments. Yes he may arrange his players so they can win more tournaments, but as a competitive coach and representative of China he would not give his opponents a chance to say they beat him on purpose, if they are beaten, they are beaten fair and square.
That may be true for CJ and BCL. But it's definitely not necessary for LD to be World No.1. Think about it, LD can lose >20000 pts and still be ranked No. 3. At the same time CJ can still get the same position, No. 4. Furthermore, according to your "underdog" theory, it's good for LD to let LCW be World No.1, isn't it?
OMG, that's the best post I read in years! Also totally agree with you on the non-humorous parts, in particular LCW lacking confidence.
Absolutely spot on, Mr d20 Lee Chong Wei truly possesses an abundance of physical stamina (and skill). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for his mental stamina. At times, LCW appears to be too timid an opponent for his own good, easily tormented and overrun by his own errors. At other times, he can also be a indefatigable limpet, hanging on till the opponent makes the first error or gives up from sheer exasperation (e.g. the last game of the Malaysia Open 2007 Final against Lin Dan, the first game of the All England Open 2008 encounter with Taufik Hidayat). In short, LCW performance in the Thomas Cup looks ominous for China
at the end of the day, regardless of the TC result, as long as all the top players give it their all, we're all in for a treat. all these mind games before the tournament are to be expected, but i wouldn't read too much into it. interesting analysis though, hahaha ...
From when LYB can be so confident that even if LD simply gives up, CHN can defeat opponent by using still fairly weaker MD line ups? I believe more than 75% of our fans think CHN is done in semi, after LD lost to LCW. Only "miracle" happened, as Fu/Cai took back the "suppose to be 1 free pt" from MAS. If you are talking about LYB somehow want to throw away 1 point in UC, I agree. If you are talking about LYB wants to let his MD take a break, after LD's victory, I might believe it. However, I don't think LYB has the guts to say, let LD lose the deciding point, and trying to make a good excuse in front of 1.3B ppl. Regardless whether TC/UC is more important than OG or not, if LYB does not even give up any open tournament, you tell me he wants to give 1 of the most important team cup free, and as early as in semi??? Now, let's not talk about LYB, but talk about LD. Whether we like him or not, we know he's ultra competitive. If this guy can fight with his coach in an "inter team" simulation game, you tell me to let this guy lose face in TC? You tell me to let this guy swallow his pride, and let the 1.3B ppl blame him to throw away the "set the tone" point? Even if LYB send such order, I wonder LD will gladly accept it, not before kicking LYB's rear end.
Well Said LB. It seems these days you can't play a match without the result being called into question by a conspiracy theory, one way or the other.
i reckon, other than KOR's skullduggery to ensure their best possible path to the final (fair play to them in my view), there weren't really any controversies in this year's TC. a good mix of excitement and dissapointment, some excellent games and in the end the most consistent team (and favourites) won. good job, well done, now on to the olympics. if the line-judging there is as good as the line-judging here, there shouldn't be any complaints.
Like I mentioned in other threads many times, there are so call "fair and honest" fans keep picking dirts, mostly toward CHN, which won most of the titles regardless individual or team events. Regardless what CHN do, being it win or lose, or whatever, some ppl can keep poking. They win as a cheater who gets lucky because there's no written rule, and they lose as a cheater who deserves the punishment from god. Well, regardless what they do, they are pre-labeled as "cheaters" to begin with. This is great, it's like you are in the court, only can pary for how serious the penalty is, but you are already "dead meat" before even step in.
Maybe I am over sensitive about this topic. However, I am not a judge or a lawyer, and I don't have to present solid proof to "smell" anything.
Totally agree that China would not purposefully give up MS1 to mess up LCW. Having said that I wouldn't underestimate the pressure that LCW will feel now that he has conquered "the man". Based on my observations 1001 voices will clamour out of the woodwork now proclaiming him a favourite. He's just not the same player as the favourite. I don't see him as mentally weak it's more that his mental state relfects the style of game he plays fluid and intuitive and in flux. So the added confidence is never lasting and can quickly swing to the other extreme. It will be a huge task for his handlers to keep him in the "happy" zone for the next 3 months. So I'm not sure he's better off or not having beaten LD given all the expectations that will be heaped on him now.
It's stupid for MAS to start putting hope on LCW. Tell LCW to do whatever he feels appropriate in OG. Tell MAS players not a single medal will be expected from them.
how can u said like that, dude? every nations or every players has a hope in the OG08..!! its not stupid to putting hopen on lcw, its juz our personal opinion... everyone has rights to speak out.
If you keep putting hope on LCW, most likely he will feel much pressure and under-perform in OG and lose to Sony or Boonsak or CJ or whoever and even have no chance to face LD.
