So now we're at this stage of the game. Some surprises, and some major upsets; however true to form, the toughest players have made it through. I still favor Peter Gade myself, but am very interested to see how the other players perform. The number one seed as you all know has been knocked out of competition; I never really thought he played consistently anyways. The young Taufik Hidiyat is through as well... My question is... should he advance further; and possibly maybe eventually into the final!!! How many of you think he's actually paid his dues to the sport, and been through the rigorous trials of becoming named the World Champion? Personally I've got mixed feelings. Definitely a very talented, and skilled player. Has what it takes to win; but will his youth be his own downfall? We've got seasoned pros like Hendrawan in here, the All England Champ is still in the hunt as well as the runner up Chen Hong (shouldn't it be Hong Chen? anywho...) Personally I would like to see the following match ups, just to really screw things up after this next round Hendrawan vs Xia Xuanze (this guy has freaking big quads!!! I"d like to see him do better despite some scarey moments in his matches) Taufik Hidiyat vs Kenneth Jonassen Pulella Gopichand vs Chen Hong (rematch of the AE finals) Agus Hariyanto vs Peter Gade (I don't know Agus but his name sounds cool...) From there I don't know... i guess it's up to the player that wants it the most to fight for the title... but you can be sure from here on in... it's gonna get ugly.
Nothing against Fung of course... but it's honestly past his time. He's awesome for his age, and I respect his play very much. Then again... I think Peter should really step up to bat, and really take charge and show these boys why he was ranked #1 for so long. Again... just my biased opinion
Oops! forgot... For women, I'm actually cheering for Gong Zhichao; but if she actually loses I hope one of the other China players If they all lose, like if Dai loses to Camilla then I hope she wins... that way we can see more pretty pics of her :lol: Hey, I can admit she's got really nice legs!
oops again! OMG! I'm becoming Adel, can't stop posting to my own message... having my own little one way conversations :lol: Umm for doubles... I'm cheering for Tony & Halim. AE champs gotta follow through on the WC you know. Err... not sure about womens doubles.. some China team. As for mixed, I was hoping Kim Dong would win... but I think the Danish teams will be too strong for them... So.. since Canada lost early... GO DENMARK! Of course I'm counting out the Chinese teams, cause I don't know much about them or the other teams either... so again I have a biased opinion.
Re: oops again! im hoping for taufik, he looks identical to my uncle, so if he wins im going to take some pictures
"The young Taufik Hidiyat is through as well... My question is... should he advance further; and possibly maybe eventually into the final!!! How many of you think he's actually paid his dues to the sport, and been through the rigorous trials of becoming named the World Champion?" Can't really tell what you're getting at but if anything, he needs to brush up on 1)attitude and 2)consistency. My list of supportees with accompanying reasons: MS - Peter Gade. I know people who call him "a champion without titles" - wu2 mian3 guan4 jun1 in Chinese - that is, someone who bombs out at the big ones. It's time he took something big, no HUGE, to prove them wrong. Plus an end to (largely) Asian domination in the sport. Ok, so I'm Asian but what the hell. MD - Tony/Halim. Apart from being a Tony supporter, this is the LAST MD pair Indonesia has in the WC!!!!!! Also hoping that Halim can do well this time because the way I see it, he suffered the most for Indonesia's Olympic gold-medal bid, having to float around without a partner for close to 2 years. XD - Kim and Ra - one one hand, I'm half a Korean supporter and on the other, I hope Kim does do something to make up for his Olympic disappointment. On the 3rd hand (who has a 3rd hand?), I wouldn't want Kim to take the MD as well so if he takes the XD, I can feel less guilty about wishing him failure in the other event. *What sort of nonsense is that, Adel?* WS and WD - doesn't matter coz it's definitely China's. Am picking Gong ZC to take the WS and Gao/Huang to take the WD. Btw Jeff... your UNCLE looks like Taufik??? Is he very young or are you very young? Coz I sure wouldn't consider Taufik to be of uncle-status. Hendrawan maybe.
hmm, i think Tony/Halim will win the WC. But Ra/Kim i think thats the right combination, should be good contender as well. What about Bambang/Minarti and Nova/Marisa, Nova/Marisa have come very far....... I'm hoping for Bambang/Minarti to take the WC title
A bit hard... Kim/Ra will be meeting Bambang/Minarti in the quarters. Nova/Marissa will be meeting Zhang/Gao. Expect the finals to be bwt Zhang/Gao and Kim/Ra. A chance for Kim to exact revenge for his Olympic loss?
