Ahsan/Setiawan have forgotten how to win. They haven't won any tournament for long time. Major tournament specialist? Conserving energy? Hiding their true color? What a joke!!! This Olympic can be worse than four years ago. I should stop mocking Lee Yong Dae and may be Lee Chong Wei.
I don't know why people said Ahsan/Setiawan weren't trying against the Japanese. They are sent packing early this tournament.
Ahsan/Setiawan out, with Hong/Chai haveing two wins and Endo/Hayakawa as well (with a match yet to play, which is a free win). Two pairs progress in all doubles groups .
my fav md pair is out of competition. so disappointed. they really performed poorly this year. now rooting for jap endo/hayakawa.
Chai/hong didn't play their usual all guns blazing, nobrain flat game. Instead they would play half-pushes and blocks and they controlled the net so well. I think the chinese developed a new style and it paid off today.
Xu used to be a simple, not very tactical player with weak defense and a very hard smash. Now he doesn't even have the smash anymore.
Really disappointed seeing how Hendra/Ahsan plays. I was hoping they would play much better and it seems like their glory days are over. It would be better for Hendra to retire now and let Ahsan plays with another player.
Would any of you have put another Chinese XD pair instead of Xu/Ma before looking at their performances so far though?
Not really, no. But Xu's time is definitely over. Let's hope Ma Jin gets another good partner - she is maybe the one that suffers most from Zhao's excellence. Great XD player, but XC isn't at the same level.