I think this signals the return of indonesia as a badminton powerhouse worthy of china. Although this olympic dont lookit (many losses 1 gold). What with new and exciting men singles players. Young and high quality mens doubles. Only the Ina women not so sure. Malaysia otoh will ever the unrealised potential...the occasional surprise nation, just like in this olympic. No real good men single in the wings ...no real replacement for mens double. Maybe 1 good young mixed doubles coming up. We do have 1 exciting young woman singles though. Congrats liliyana and tontowi
What a way to redeem their sins in london 2012. They won the gold medal without dropping a single game.. Now, Natsir officially become one of XD all time great, she won numerous SS/SSP title, 3 world title, 3 All England titles, 1 OG Silver, 1 OG Gold..
He is not doubles speciallist? If LCW play maybe lah. But LCW already have Teh SB and Hendrawan in coach chair
Yes, indeed. However, the Rio games has suffered poor attendance overall compared to recent editions of the Olympics. Many other sports have poor attendance too. Some exceptions, such as swimming and gymnastics. Even in those sports, I saw some empty seats. Despite few bodies in the hall, the noise level was very encouraging.
It was nice that Goh Liu Ying gave Tontowi and Liliyana a hug just as they were leaving the podium after the medals ceremony. The camera then turned away so I don't know if she gave Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei a hug too. Very happy for the Malaysian pair even if they did not win the gold. Great achievement. I hope CPS/GLY stay in the sport, continue to improve and build a healthy rivalry with the Indonesians, Chinese and other top mixed doubles teams in the world. Even in Malaysia, Lai Pei Jing and her partner (name escapes me now) should give CPS/GLY a run for their money. Congratulations again, Malaysia.
it reminds me of athens. i felt like the only person in the arena. how much a host country cares about a given sport greatly affects the attendance. greeks and brazilians don't care about badminton. the tickets were/are too expensive for the avg. greek and brazilian. re. athens: 9/11 was still fresh in the minds of the west. American attendance at these Games will fall 15 to 20 percent compared with four years ago in Sydney. Besides security concerns, the weak dollar is the major factor contributing to that decline, said Don Williams, vice president of sales and marketing for Cartan Tours, the U.S. Olympic Committee's official ticket agent. london & beijing (obviously) have badminton tradition. sydney attendance was very very good. proximity to asia helped. atlanta, well, americans will go watch just about 'anything' olympic. barcelona: i have no info on that. obviously tokyo will sell out.
heard gly is retiring, due to constant pain in her knees. severe knee injuries, even after surgery, are hard to come back from. i'm bummed out. i love her fighting spirit on the court.
By that logic, LYB should never be in any coaching chair. Someone with as much experience as Morten can help doubles players as well, he has actually coached the Malaysian doubles before (told a little story about it at the 2008 AE MD SF between a Malaysian pair and JJS/LYD)...but it's not unusual for him not to be there either. LCW is the one that really benefits most from his presence, I believe.
I had to run off during the ceremony and just managed to watch the replay. a very well deserved GOLD for Lilyana Natsir and Tantowi Ahmad. they have been hovering at the top of the world for many years, winning all possible medals except the Olympics. This time around enroute they knocked out the favorite Zhang/Zhao, and displayed a dominating performance in the final, proving that they too have a place in history at the top of the podium. Tantowi teared up at the podium. I almost teared up watching him. No matter who it is, to get to that step (or any step in the podium at all) requires many years of hard training and all sorts of sacrifice. just thinking back on that will make any person tear up. as for Goh Liu Ying / Chan Peng Soon. they have outperform what most fans would expect them to. while I am sure Malaysian fans would love to see them get Gold, they should be very very happy to have a silver. for Zhang/Zhao. well, Zhao Yunlei took it much better than Zhang Nan. cheer up. it is tough. I hope Zhang Nan will recover from the defeat and will be back to top form on Friday for the MD final.
Butet&Owi, thank you for the honor to listen to our national anthem "Indonesia Raya" played on our Independence Day in the Rio Olympics!
Butet really ended her career in the highest note, Oly gold medal with Owi. Making it the 7th total overall gold from badminton after Alan Budikusuma, Susi Susanti, Ricky/Rexy, Chandra/Tony, Taufik Hidayat, Setiawan/Kido . President Jokowi, Sport Ministry and PBSI already discussing an additional very "special" bonus for Owi/Butet for treating us with gold on our Independence Day. On top of the already promised $600,000 they will receive from Sport Ministry & PBSI, $24,000 yearly lifetime pension, bonuses from their clubs Tangkas and Djarum respectively, bonus from sponsors, house, car, they are looking to make more than a million dollar each with this victory. Their coach Richard Mainaky and assistant Nova Widianto will receive USD100,000 and 50,000 respectively from PBSI alone. Nova was playing alongside Natsir to earn a silver in Beijing 2008 and now still standing beside Natsir as their assistant coach when they won gold in Rio.
