A somewhat fractured review this year as I missed the WS & MD final due to holding my son who was scared of the noise in the stadium then missed the XD final because my daughter fell asleep in the stadium during the WD match! Managed to see the MS though! The most striking thing about the final was the atmosphere. With DEN, MAS & CHN fans in the stadium there was lots of noise which added to the event. I think the main reason is also that they has openedup the seating this year to add capacity, which I tihnk meant more people bought once they knew who was going to be in the final, wheras with the old seating plan it wassold out before the tournament started so more sterile atmosphere. BTW no SF review as I didn't go on Saturday for family reasons... MS Last final of the day and the noise was tremendous, it was really quite exciting anticipating the match. I had felt form what I had seen on Thursday & Friday that LCW would win (I emailed a friend saying as such... not just hindsight), as he looked good & LD looked slow. What transpired what something of an anticlimax. LD was very negative and defensive, during the first game we have seen it before from LD, playing the rallies, extending them then upping the pace and killing them off. LCW started tentatively not much smashing and grew in confidence visibly as the match went on. The most striking point of the match was the lack of attack coming from LD. he rarely moved behind the shuttle to jump smash even when LCW gave a high clear/lift and only attempted to smash from Mid court. Most "attacks" were at seemingly half pace. The one on match point particularly so, so much so that as it was mid court and high and he returned the shot straight as a half chop smash I said to my wife "what is that?!" Nevertheless LCW did what he had to do (Win!) and he was clearly the best player on the days I saw him on. What would be interesting is if LD plays the same if they meet in the WC or OG final........ WD Well the opening paragraph says it all really, my daughter fell asleep such was the one sided nature. The crowd became subdued by the poor performance of the JP pair. They couldn't get on the attack and failed to defend well enough. The CHN pair were consistent and agressive, but the real story is with the nervous display the JP pair gave. Comments of "how did they reach the final?" were echoing behind me and as I walked around afterwards... XD Watched on TV in the bar! CHN pair were solid in defence & direct in attack. didn't fuss around with the tricky play of the Thai pair or plays soft blocks, just played fast and direct. As I watched it I just though I want Xu Chen's backhand drive! It is quite common for XD players to block or push on the backhand side but Xu just hammered every he had down straight back at the opposition. MD The Mogenson/Boe should, IMO, have won last year and played exceptionally well getting to the final this year. They are a great example of team play, they compliment each other well and know what each other is doing. Very difficult to beat once they get into the game. KKK/TBH didn't really do anything wrong, they were just blown away. Final summary Still not much new talent coming through in any discipline, Keep hoping to see a real quality player coming through but not this year yet. The brightest feature was the number of good CHN XD players coming through 4 pairs who are really top class players. none I think are potnetially dominators, but they are solid players. Still don't think much to the CHN WS players,or the younger MS players Where was the interval entertainment (cheerleaders or breakdancers?)
Great review mate !!! Agree with you on the MS final. LD did not up his pace at crucial moments and thus faced the consequences from LCW. I fear age is catching up with the top 4 players in MS (PG,LD,TH, LCW) . Soon we may not see them in action at full strength in upcoming tournaments. They may have to give way to a whole new set of players when these 4 players all leave at once(especially PG lol ) What are you doing in Birmingham though jamesd20 ? Are you British by the way?
Nice that they opened up the seating. It's common for asians to only go for their players as tickets can be expensive. Although only watching on TV, the atmosphere seemed very, very good.
I don't think we have seen full strength LD/LCW/PG/TH for a good few years they are all slightly slower. LCW even is not as smooth as he used to be, but the difference is all the players make less errors and are more consistent Yes I am british I was in birmingham to watch the badminton! What are you doing in antartica? Yes the seating was a big imporvement. Depsite the empty seats there was more atmosphere than usual & also the players section was within reach of the fans as you could walk straight past it and see them. Previously it was entirely separate with no general access. Tickets are not too bad - and for the WC I have got a season ticket (all days) for just £70 ($115 US)!
I thought AE atmosphere supposed to be classy like for concert? The best must be the match announcer. Gotta know his name. He must have gotten his cue from the boisterous MAS students. Did you see the one who behaved like LD after winning a match? Amazing energy transfer from crowd to players. So now it seems AE has the best atmosphere : supportive noise with respite during play. MO Putra Stadium crowd emit sensless,continuous noise; hopefully they can learn from the MAS students.
LCW seems getting better and more confident while LD looks tired the whole match. Can LD last till OG2012?
Yes that was one of the factors, the announcer sounded more like a boxing compere! I would say the atmosphere was even better than when the ENG pair won in 2005(?)
You think AE organizers should reserve one FREE section for the MAS students? After all , they make AE very happening! What s Adrian Christy s email. Gotta congratulate him.
LD should have played CBL instead of GO. Big mistake. The other problem was the predicted rest stop at SF did not materialize when CJ lost. Come to think of it, LCW sure had to slog for his second AE. Beat 3 CHN MS to win title like he had to when LM was his coach!
CBL is short for CHN Badminton League ( I may be wrong.) GO stands for Girls On-cue! It wasn't that MZ would tire LD out. If CJ had won, LD would have gotten a walkover because CJ s bad back would suddenly flare up during the warmup session. Look what happened to PG when CL had the advantage of a real walkover. By the way, I really enjoy your AE reviews. Learn a lot about tactics except I cannot visualize.
IMO there would be no point sending CJ to OG. He can't beat anyone would would worry the other Chinese opponents & realistically isn't good enough to win. At the moment China appear to be struggling on the MS front for the OG.
Yes, it looks like they only rely on Lin Dan alone this time. But who knows, anything can happen in a few months time.
I don't think KKK/TBH were blown away, I personally thought they choked when they tried to cross the finishing line. Not taking anything away from the Danes but I don't think they were outstanding.
