Aug 19th report (WS and XD finals)

Ya Sas from Athens!
I went to the afternoon session today. Here's my impressions:
Mia Audina vs Zhang Ning
Big groups of supporters in the crowd for this match. I reckon the hall was about 75% full for most of the games this afternoon, there was a good atmosphere. I would say that if this game wasn't an Olympic final it wouldn't have been all that interesting. Both players were fairly defensive, the rallies weren't that explosive. Mia seemed to be working a lot harder to cover the court but she was winning her fair share of points. Between points she moves SO slowly, I guess she is taking time to get her breath and compose herself for the next rally. You would never guess that she can move so quickly during the rallies. She is also AMAZING at round-the-head shots, the flexiblity in her back must be quite unbeliveable. At 6-10 in the 2nd game Mia just left a long serve and it landed in, I was really surprised by this as I have never seen a player concede a game like that. In the 3rd it was fairly even until the changeover, then Zhang opened a lead and Mia couldn't get back. Zhang was in floods of tears after the match, she was so happy, at the medal ceremony her eyes were really puffy. Mia, on the other hand, looked severely pissed off, and hardly even managed a smile.
Yoo & Lee vs Eriksen & Lundgaard
The Danes won the first game really easily, Erisken was playing some really tight service returns, Y & E had to lift, then the Danes were blasting the winners back down. Eriksen has a brutal smash if he has time to get himself in position. But by the start of the second the Koreans had figured out the Dane's tactics, and the match soon swung in their favour and they started to win quite easily. There were some good rallies, including one where Lee made a dive and played several hits while sitting on the floor, but it was a fairly straightforward vistory. Both sides were mixing up the power smashes with nice deceptive drops, which resulted in plently of diving saves and exiting rallies. I love watching Yoo play, he is such a dynamic player, and he hits the shuttle so crisply.
Robertson & Emms vs Gao & Zhang
Great atmosphere for this match. Before it started the Brits in the crowd were really vocal but after the first five minutes into the game they had all been silenced by the ferocity of the Chinese players. R & E repeatedly lifted the shuttle to Zhang, who just hammered angled smashes at Emms, who couldn't react. At one point R & E exchanged looks, and the expression on their faces was like "how the hell are we supposed to play against these guys?" It reminded me of league players who have been promoted at the end of the season, and at the start of the next season, find themselves playing against a new set of opponents who are a class above what they have previously experienced. Anyway, the first game was over in like 10 minutes. At the start of the second R& E changed their tactics completely. Instead of giving straight ifts from the net, they played a much flatter game, and used cross-court blocks against Zhangs smashes, which meant he only had one really hard smash, the rest of the time he was having to do a lot of side-to-side movement which restricted his effectiveness. To be honest there isn't a lot of variation to Zhang's shots, all he has is this killer smash. Zhang was also doing a LOT of gamesmanship - asking to change the shuttle, querying the line calls, etc. He was not making any friends in the crowd. Emms seemed a bit inconsistent. Sometimes she made some brilliant net play, and looked really comfortable at the back, but she also made a lot of really simple errors at the net. Robertson played some fantastic wristy shots, he can hold the shot for so long before whipping it cross-court. So R & E took the second after a scare at 14-11 when it looked like the Chinese were gonna come back. In the third it was pretty even. The Chinese took an early lead but the Brits edged their way back, to go 8-7 (?) ahead at the changeover. In the final segment the Chinese had the edge, I think the Brits were a bit nervous, although Robertson played the most fantastic point to save Championship point at 12-14, it was a real flash of genius. Good atmosphere after the match, and at the medal ceremony afterwards.
Chen Hong pushed past me in the crowd to wave a little Chinese flag as Z & G were doing their victory lap, my wife was like "that guy just trampled all over my bag" and I was like "that's Chen Hong, he can trample over your bag as much as he likes!"