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?)
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?)
