2016 YONEX ALL ENGLAND Open SSP - SEMI FINALS (12th March)

[kelana]

Too bad, no Hawk-Eye or Ct 2. I hope all semifinals at the SS level are equipped with IRS ( Hawk-Eye) on both courts; better still, from QFs onward.

Justin, I second to that, at least starts from semi-finals and in all SSP levels, IRS (Hawk-Eye) to be installed in ALL courts!

If the cost is exorbitant then WBF must renegotiate and better again has competitive, non-monopolized several suppliers. Well, I ain't sure if the current provider is only one thus price is well controlled.

 

[laivc]

I had the privilege of talking to a a few court officials yesterday during the LD vs XS match.

She was quite an important official, but I won't say who. She told me the match between the two was 'training day', and that sometimes China when they have two horses in the same match, will tell them to go on court for a certain amount of time.

My initial bet was a 21:19 21:10 outcome, hers was much more distant. We were quite surprised to see the match draw out as it did.

We could both see it though, Lin Dan wasn't pushing for wins that much. You can't see it because of the cameras, but at my outlier seat I could see the distance on shots really well. There were dozens of times Lin Dan had very easy opportunities to win rallies but chose not to do so.

I now believe that China wanted to show off Xue Song and make him look like a strong candidate for the team. Lin Dan is going soon, they'll have Chen Long and Tian Houwei, but I think they want Xue Song to be their third after the Olympics.

Now the official also said something interesting; "It depends on whether China can get a third into the Olympics or not" hinges the outcome today. If Tian Houwei will have enough points to qualify for Rio with this victory, he'll win. If not, Lin Dan will win.

China is all about the glory of their country.

I think the eras of Chinese players "arranging" results when playing each other is very much over as China these days are as capitalist as the mother of all capitalist, USA. Each player has their own welfare and financial interests to look after.

Also, all this was all said only after Tian Houwei had defeated Vittinghus in rubber games. Not forgetting Lin Dan and Xue Song had their match much earlier, both of them and the whole Chinese camp has no idea whether Tian Houwei can beat his Danish opponent over in Europe later on. What if Vittinghus has won, do you guys still think that Lin Dan and Xue Song will 'waste" additional energy in a rubber game if their match was "arranged"? Also, it doesn't look good for Chen Long to lose to Xue Song in straight game at round 2, even if China wants to make Xue Song looks good to others. The only way Xue Song can look good for himself and for China is to continue his good performance against other players whose world ranking is higher than his, eg win against Viktor Axelsen in the quarter final.

Not forgetting the competition for places in the Chinese national team (1st team) are very competitive, if Xue Song and Tian Houwei cannot perform in world stage against top 10 players in the world, their spots in the national team can easily be lost to youngsters like Huang Yuxiang and Qiao Bin, and Wang Zhengming is also very much still in the picture if both slipped in their quest to improve.

 

[renbo]

Capitalism has nothing to do in that.
To see the match live, from a close seat, gives the impression that the players are indeed very patient. At least that is the impression I had many times.
That all China matches have been determined by team leaders in the past is a fact, so those officials are not wrong.
But I really don't see any reason why the LD-XS match would have been fixed.
Moreover, we should not get to excited about XS' prospect, WZM used to do even better!!!

 

[kelana]

Well, just last week I watched intensely the ITTF's own live coverage of the World Table Tennis Team Champhionships in Kuala Lumpur via the itTV telecast. How superior the coverage is, bypassing the monopoly of the exorbitantly paid cable TV for some particular premium sport channel, or the country restrictions imposed by youtube or other copyright-copyleft issues... table tennis lovers do not need to rely on the inferior streaming quality as experienced by the badminton fans. I hope one day WBF may follow the ITTF steps!

 

[Charlie-SWUK]

It was the official's opinion that Xue Song was being elevated, she said about them boosting his ranking position to make him an eligible candidate for Rio, just in case.

I personally believe they have started elevating Xue Song to be their third main player when Lin Dan retires. Chen Long, Tian Houwei, Xue Song.

I believe that Lin Dan will win the match today. At this stage it's a Chinese victory, but I believe Lin Dan will take the match if not through experience, but because China want the immortal visage of Lin Dan.

You are correct, there was no telling if Tian Houwei would beat Vittinghus.

It doesn't matter what Chen Long does with himself at the moment, he's a fantastic player, whichever way you look at it, and he has the necessary qualification for 2016. Take a moment to consider it politically: Chen Long beats Xue Song - nobody even talks about it. Nobody looks twice. Xue Song beats Chen Long and takes Lin Dan to three sets? Suddenly you have a story.

While China may be capitalists, it was never about their socioeconomic policy. China is still all about the glory of their country. I can guarantee the benefits of playing ball with the Chinese team outweigh the negatives, if nothing else, financially.
[MENTION=63377]renbo[/MENTION]
That may be so, but again, it's about 'Xue Song beat Chen Long and took Lin Dan to three sets!', it's the better story. Even if they change course and go with Wang Zhengming, they have always had the opportunity to use Xue Song.

 

[laivc]

Praying for the patients to cope with Marin. I remember quite distinctly after one rally Marin shouted, Okuhara gave her a look as if to say 'God damn it stop. Just stop.' and gave the shuttle back rather harshly.

Anyway, it's 2 athletes per event but in the unfortunate circumstance that CL or LD can't play - if they think LD can't win or won't be a benefit in the Olympics - and there have been questions raised with his performance against non-Chinese opponents - then Houwei is a backup.

I had at least 3 officials tell me they thought the China v China games were all rigged and gave me different reasons, from their experiences as officials.

Unless you could see the game in person, the gross camera angles won't show the distance. Plenty of times LD had half court shots played high to him and he chips them back with a sliced drop shot.

Haven't you noticed by now of this LD style by now? LD nowadays doesn't go for the kill unless he senses there is a 90% chance to kill of his opponent, even if the chances are half court shots played high to him. Lin Dan now plays a very tactical game with his opponents, often relied on rallies to wear off his opponents tactically rather than using his speed of 2008. Didn't LD play the same game against Jorgensen in the quarterfinal? LD also didn't go for the full blooded kill for most to the half court shots return high to him by Jorgensen. Unless you are also saying Jorgensen is part of the 'Rigged" to lost to LD in an All England quarterfinal, then yes, LD is a very undeserved finalist in this year's All England Championship.

 

[abedeng]

Praying for the patients to cope with Marin. I remember quite distinctly after one rally Marin shouted, Okuhara gave her a look as if to say 'God damn it stop. Just stop.' and gave the shuttle back rather harshly.

I got a headache just hearing the banshee scream ..... had to get out of the arena and ease the pain with a dose of, err, fish and chips.

 

[Charlie-SWUK]

I got a headache just hearing the banshee scream ..... had to get out of the arena and ease the pain with a dose of, err, fish and chips.

Hahaha oh my god the arena stank of chips.

 

[nokh88]

I believe Charlie-SWUK and he has no reason to cook up a story.

CHN has a history of match fixing and a leopard doesn't change its spots.

 

[Justin L]

Yes, exactly, only two Olympic spots max per nation/MA - so that should expose the lie about what the official claimed whoever he/she is. True as well, Li Yongbo has not long ago already announced the two CHN MS candidates for the Olympic selection, unlike the other disciplines, such as WS, where he has to choose two out of three.

What's more, no way would Lin Dan want to help THW or XS to get close to him in WR and the R2R, it's like shooting his own foot.

As for Lin Dan apparently not trying hard to beat XS, my take is 1) he's tired and there's one more round, the final, to go (and this match was before THW took on HKV, therefore the outcome wasn't known beforehand);
2) LD knows XS' game inside out and he's confident he can beat XS somehow, added to the fact that XS was already stretched by two previous tough,long matches;
3) LD might have originally set his target of a semifinal appearance here at the AE, so having reached his goal, he naturally is inclined to ease off quite a bit;
4) LD dropped the 1st set, why bothered to win the second, irregardless of what happened in the third when (he couldn't possibly have foreseen that XS would suffer a leg cramp) he was gifted the match by XS' leg cramp; and lastly
5), winning against XS meant he's only one step from taking another AE PSS title, moreover, his final opponent is either HKV or teammate THW, neither of whom should pose a big obstacle to him - in other words, there's every incentive for him to go for it, capturing his 6th AE title, consolidating his chances of rising to WR2 as a result, not to mention being one of the very few to win back-to-back tournaments in recent years.

The best part is, winning the PSS gains LD another 11,000 ranking points in addition to the 9,000 he earned from the German Open last week, thereby lessening his pressure to perform well in the few remaining Olympic qualifying events ending on May 1st. Certainly,LD would be wise to make hay while the sun shines.

 

[demolidor]

'Lies'? Just goes to show the official was just going off old rumours from the previous Olympics and didn't even know the rules had changed since then

 

[laivc]

Yes, exactly, only two Olympic spots max per nation/MA - so that should expose the lie about what the official claimed whoever he/she is. True as well, Li Yongbo has not long ago already announced the two CHN MS candidates for the Olympic selection, unlike the other disciplines, such as WS, where he has to choose two out of three.

What's more, no way would Lin Dan want to help THW or XS to get close to him in WR and the R2R, it's like shooting his own foot.

As for Lin Dan apparently not trying hard to beat XS, my take is 1) he's tired and there's one more round, the final, to go (and this match was before THW took on HKV, therefore the outcome wasn't known beforehand);
2) LD knows XS' game inside out and he's confident he can beat XS somehow, added to the fact that XS was already stretched by two previous tough,long matches;
3) LD might have originally set his target of a semifinal appearance here at the AE, so having reached his goal, he naturally is inclined to ease off quite a bit;
4) LD dropped the 1st set, why bothered to win the second, irregardless of what happened in the third when (he couldn't possibly have foreseen that XS would suffer a leg cramp) he was gifted the match by XS' leg cramp; and lastly
5), winning against XS meant he's only one step from taking another AE PSS title, moreover, his final opponent is either HKV or teammate THW, neither of whom should pose a big obstacle to him - in other words, there's every incentive for him to go for it, capturing his 6th AE title, consolidating his chances of rising to WR2 as a result, not to mention being one of the very few to win back-to-back tournaments in recent years.

The best part is, winning the PSS gains LD another 11,000 ranking points in addition to the 9,000 he earned from the German Open last week, thereby lessening his pressure to perform well in the few remaining Olympic qualifying events ending on May 1st. Certainly,LD would be wise to make hay while the sun shines.

Well said!

 

[pcll99]

Yes, exactly, only two Olympic spots max per nation/MA - so that should expose the lie about what the official claimed whoever he/she is. True as well, Li Yongbo has not long ago already announced the two CHN MS candidates for the Olympic selection, unlike the other disciplines, such as WS, where he has to choose two out of three.

What's more, no way would Lin Dan want to help THW or XS to get close to him in WR and the R2R, it's like shooting his own foot.

As for Lin Dan apparently not trying hard to beat XS, my take is 1) he's tired and there's one more round, the final, to go (and this match was before THW took on HKV, therefore the outcome wasn't known beforehand);
2) LD knows XS' game inside out and he's confident he can beat XS somehow, added to the fact that XS was already stretched by two previous tough,long matches;
3) LD might have originally set his target of a semifinal appearance here at the AE, so having reached his goal, he naturally is inclined to ease off quite a bit;
4) LD dropped the 1st set, why bothered to win the second, irregardless of what happened in the third when (he couldn't possibly have foreseen that XS would suffer a leg cramp) he was gifted the match by XS' leg cramp; and lastly
5), winning against XS meant he's only one step from taking another AE PSS title, moreover, his final opponent is either HKV or teammate THW, neither of whom should pose a big obstacle to him - in other words, there's every incentive for him to go for it, capturing his 6th AE title, consolidating his chances of rising to WR2 as a result, not to mention being one of the very few to win back-to-back tournaments in recent years.

The best part is, winning the PSS gains LD another 11,000 ranking points in addition to the 9,000 he earned from the German Open last week, thereby lessening his pressure to perform well in the few remaining Olympic qualifying events ending on May 1st. Certainly,LD would be wise to make hay while the sun shines.

LD has to win because All England is an Yonex event!!!

 

[Nine Tailed Fox]

LYB must be a genius to foresee :

1) Xue Song, one of the biggest flops of 2015, will easily beat Viktor Axelsen who has earned victories over Lin Dan and Chen Long in 2015.

2)Lin Dan,who was outclassed by JOJ in WC 2015 will easily beat Jan O Jorgensen.

3) Both will surely meet in SF. Wow! so bold....And Tian Houwei will conquer the bottom half with ease ? No way LYB,...No way.

So, he decided to 'fix' Chen Long vs Xue Song match and elevated Xue Song's status.

 

[Justin L]

It was the official's opinion that Xue Song was being elevated, she said about them boosting his ranking position to make him an eligible candidate for Rio, just in case.

This part is pure speculation, too far-fetched and unconvincing, to say the least. What's Xue Song's world ranking now? 30. What about his R2R standing? Don't you think it's too late , and out of the question for him ?

At the AE, how would the CHN camp know that, after Chen Long, Xue Song would beat Axelsen? And, needless to say, nobody can guarantee Xue Song's performance going forward, particularly in the next few remaining OG qualification events.

 

[pcll99]

Well, just last week I watched intensely the ITTF's own live coverage of the World Table Tennis Team Champhionships in Kuala Lumpur via the itTV telecast. How superior the coverage is, bypassing the monopoly of the exorbitantly paid cable TV for some particular premium sport channel, or the country restrictions imposed by youtube or other copyright-copyleft issues... table tennis lovers do not need to rely on the inferior streaming quality as experienced by the badminton fans. I hope one day WBF may follow the ITTF steps!

The ITTF tournament is so much better.

[video=youtube;OKFpxhV7sY0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKFpxhV7sY0[/video]

BWF Channel will not be country-blocked if BWF can figure out how to have changing ads displayed in the background like table tennis.

 

[ngkt67]

LYB must be a genius to foresee :

1) Xue Song, one of the biggest flops of 2015, will easily beat Viktor Axelsen who has earned victories over Lin Dan and Chen Long in 2015.

2)Lin Dan,who was outclassed by JOJ in WC 2015 will easily beat Jan O Jorgensen.

3) Both will surely meet in SF. Wow! so bold....And Tian Houwei will conquer the bottom half with ease ? No way LYB,...No way.

So, he decided to 'fix' Chen Long vs Xue Song match and elevated Xue Song's status.

LYB has followed Phil Jackson's management real nice...

 

[Charlie-SWUK]

This part is pure speculation, too far-fetched and unconvincing, to say the least. What's Xue Song's world ranking now? 30. What about his R2R standing? Don't you think it's too late , and out of the question for him ?

At the AE, how would the CHN camp know that, after Chen Long, Xue Song would beat Axelsen? And, needless to say, nobody can guarantee Xue Song's performance going forward, particularly in the next few remaining OG qualification events.

They couldn't know that, they were either in for a convenient situation or a tough match.

And yes, I wasn't convinced about Xue Song or his eligibility for Rio. I find it much more probable that they're shining a light on him for the upcoming years, not this year. I did a quick look up on Xue Song to find out his age, and it had headlines like "Xue Song looks almost apologetic for his victory over Chen Long". He's 22. There is good reason to think they want to start pushing him upwards. But I agree, not for this year.

His victory over Chen Long was good, but he beat Axelsen too, why not make it a 3 set game and really put him out there? Get his feet wet.

Again Chen Long and Lin Dan are eligible for Rio. The only thing they have to do now is what others have suggested, seeding manipulation. I didn't talk with the official about that at all, and I have no big opinion on it.

And again, I think they want Lin Dan to win today for the immortal visage of Lin Dan.

There's no reason to think Lin Dan is incapable of beating opponents like Jorgensen or Vittinghus, but when you hold all of the cards with a China vs China match, why not play it well?

 

[kelana]

I believe Charlie-SWUK and he has no reason to cook up a story.

CHN has a history of match fixing and a leopard doesn't change its spots.

In particular these kinds of stories suit very well all those folks keeping on the anti-Chinese/China sentiments for whatever reasons in whatever fields.

 

[Justin L]

They couldn't know that, they were either in for a convenient situation or a tough match.

And yes, I wasn't convinced about Xue Song or his eligibility for Rio. I find it much more probable that they're shining a light on him for the upcoming years, not this year. I did a quick look up on Xue Song to find out his age, and it had headlines like "Xue Song looks almost apologetic for his victory over Chen Long". He's 22. There is good reason to think they want to start pushing him upwards. But I agree, not for this year.

His victory over Chen Long was good, but he beat Axelsen too, why not make it a 3 set game and really put him out there? Get his feet wet.

Again Chen Long and Lin Dan are eligible for Rio. The only thing they have to do now is what others have suggested, seeding manipulation. I didn't talk with the official about that at all, and I have no big opinion on it.

And again, I think they want Lin Dan to win today for the immortal visage of Lin Dan.

There's no reason to think Lin Dan is incapable of beating opponents like Jorgensen or Vittinghus, but when you hold all of the cards with a China vs China match, why not play it well?

Pushing Xue Song up takes time and effort, and it depends on Xue Song himself more than whatever his teammates and coaches (LYB) is willing to do for him, which is what all coaches do for their charges in every nation/MA to varying degrees. Nothing surprising, nothing new.

As for Lin Dan, he is already an Immortal (many call him god) in badminton since London 2012, whatever that comes after doesn't change it one bit, we fans are just so blessed he deigns to carry on for a few more years.

Pardon me for saying this, those so-called officials are no different from some of the BC members here, with their biases, prejudices, their own secret agenda, their axes to grind, or even ulterior motives; raking up the past, continuing to discredit CHN when their idols or preferred players/nation couldn't beat them, and so on and so forth in the same vein, are the kind of stuff, the stock-in-trade, of such persons, good for juicy gossips, sensational stories, supposed scandals, fabrications, providing cannon fodder for conspiracy theorists, even to the extent of demonising certain countries for not just sporting but political interest, and whatnot. As it is, we've a couple of BCers here who, after reading your posts, are more than happy to jump on the bandwagon (though I think that's not your real intention).