Next up, Wang Zhengming has a point to prove after having said he wants to start winning titles or quit the national team. He also said, from now on, once he enters the final he will be more confident of taking it instead of floundering at the last hurdle. But he is up against Chen Long, not anybody else, let's see.
Both Chen Long and Wang Zhengming need to win this one and do reasonably well next week in the HK SS to ensure their qualifications for the SSF at Kuala Lumpur.
All those factors made WZM hardly find a way to break down his defense and win a point. Sad. At this moment, CL is simply too good. Will WZM had the gut to try it once again next time?
Sadly, as long as CL, LD and LCW are around, I think WZM will find it nigh impossible to get past them. Therefore, his potential has a ceiling; there's only so far he can go. Even if all are at their best, the other three are probably just better, and WZM's willingness to give away easy points plus the whole "This is looking too hard so I'll throw away the second and go for the third" mentality detract from his promise even more. Ditto Du Pengyu. WZM, WSX and the Malaysian pair all failed today: the horses I bet on just never do win!
I trust WZM will and he must keep trying hard to succeed if he wants to continue staying in the CHN national team in view of his other fellow teammates rising to threaten his position very soon. But I think his chances against the rest apart from Chen Long and Lee CW should be reasonable, esp now that he seems intent on doing well. Wish him the very best. I'll be most delighted to see him achieve his goals.
hore lily/towi menang! hore lily/towi menang! hore lily/towi menang! hore lily/towi menang! hore lily/towi menang! hore lily/towi menang! hore lily/towi menang!
Watched the last set of the XD Final. Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir finally beat their Danish nemesis in 3 sets. Didn't watch the first two, only to know that each pair won it comfortably. The third-set is however a gruelling one from the start, with Owi/Butet leading and then the Danes levelling it up until it was 10-10. Then, Owi's smash made it 11-10 at the interval. Nova Widianto was seen giving a lot of instructions to the INA pair, esp to Owi and Butet also making some comments of her own. You can see that they really want to win this match, having not beaten the Danes in 2 years since the WC 2011. Immediately after the restart, the INA pair made the more positive start and stormed to a 16-11 lead. The Danes didn't fade away...instead, they kept pegging the INA pair....from 14-16, then 16-18, and 17-19. There were only 2 pts in it right till the end when Joachim made 2 fatal errors and the INA pair celebrated wildly as they won the third-set 21-17. Congratulations to them and they have indeed proven to INA fans that they can beat their 3 nemesis: Xu Chen/Ma Jin (H2H: 3-0 this year), Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (H2H: 2-1 this year) and now Joachim Fischer-Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (H2H: 1-1 this year). Incredily, the overall H2H to these 3 pairs still remain to the opponents' advantage: Xu/Ma: 5-6 Zhang/Zhao: 4-5 Fischer-Nielsen/Pedersen: 2-3
Yup, the deciding became so tense but finally INA pair gained momentum after interval Three home shuttlers defended their title here, Li XR-Chen L-Wang/Yu. WS, too bad Wang SX failed to capitalise big margin leading in decider. MS, rematch of last year final with same outcome, Wang ZM is runner-up once again, this guy displayed good performance and confident in first game but Chen Long totally controlled game 2 & 3 with his superb attacking style. MD, anti-climax for MAS pair, seemed they're nervous in first ever SS Premier final. WD, Wang/Yu showed their class against younger compatriot Bao YX/Zhong QX.
Too bad, I think it's going to be hard luck for WZM again next week at the HK Open SS - he is slated to meet Chen Long at R2. Sigh.
Just means that Tantowi has shown significant improvement over the past 2 yrs. He's no longer blindly smashing everywhere at full power (although he still sometimes resort to that... and makes errors when he does that ) but he's now more tactically aware in his shot placements and gelling better with Butet's style.
I do believe WZM can overtake DPY by Thomas cup next year as long as he work as hard as DPY. There is some gap between Chen Long and WZM such as experience and shot selection at crucial points as well as the consistency during the game. I wonder if LD is willing to give him some tips in term of his attitude and passion toward badminton.
Not necessary. Chen Long may give him a walkover if Chen Long has already got enough points for superseries final. I think WZM need to get into the top 8 first to avoid early meetings with LCW and CL.
