Surprisingly, most of the CHN WS players are underperforming here. I'd have thought all the non-Olympians to carry on training as usual during the Olympic period and immediately after while their fellow Olympians are away. Don't tell me they were also given time off or skiving when their usual coaches are not around? It's now left to their two more experienced senior stalwarts to hold the fort in the WS, WYH and Jiang YJ. Hopefully, JYJ's proneness to minor injury doesn't act up at the wrong time when she faces up-and-coming, Sindhu , tomorrow after having just now disposed of another promising Thai youngster, Busunan.
Meanwhile, Hu Yun, who was conceded a walkover by Chen Jin, is proving more than a handful for the lesser-known CHN player, Qiao Bin, overpowering him 21-17 and 21-9. Talking about Chen Jin, he appeared to me not quite himself during the Olympics, unlike the few months prior to it when he was attacking better and playing with more intensity - I have in mind his Olympic simulation match against Lin Dan.
Just watched the replay of Wang YH vs Inthanon R, both among my favourites for the CHN and ROW camps. Approvingly, WYH put on a very determined,spirited display to take out the Thai star,Inthanon, 21-15,21-17. No wonder in China, WYH is known as the 'Queen of Foreign Wars', even more so than LXR ad JYJ. As for Inthanon, i've been patiently watching and waiting for her to rise, seemingly bubbling under the surface and getting ready to burst forth to the top. Interestingly, I heard GC the commentator revealing that Inthanon has openly admitted her idol is none other than the player who just beat her, Wang YH !
Looks that way to me too, esp for a CHN player, who can be easily replaced, quite unlike elsewhere where they can wait for him to regain his form several months later simply for lack of competitors and,therefore,continues to be regarded as an almost indispensable asset. Still, wish him all the best.
Earlier, caught sight of Lu Lan in the stands, beside Xia XZ, both watching the WYH - IR match. Could she be in consideration for induction to the Chinese National Team again? She is still only 25 and the first player to defeat LXR post-Olympics, not forgetting she was the ex-World Champion in 2009.
Recently, I've thought Kashyap the top Indian MS, a gutsy player with remarkable fighting spirit. But here he didn't seem to be in good form, perhaps post-Olympic blues.
Wonderful job Sindhu. It is great (and amazing) to see more than one promising player at a time in badminton from India. So me (an Indian troll) feel really good. Come on Sindhu, let's ensure that Yanjiao doesn't rest easy tonight. BTW I know Gurusaidutt lost, but he is a good player and I would continue to follow him.
That was an amazing job Sindhu, I cant imagine how big a morale booster this win could be. Just two more wins and you could arrive. Now just dont stop here and go for the kill... This is your opportunity I see here. For LXR I would sense this is an Olympic after effects having achieved so much in so little time can at times bring a momentary lapse and that's okay for her, she just needs to regroup a bit and this loss would definitely help her. What was even better in terms of a match was to see this go to a rubber set.
As I've said before in Sindhu's thread and elsewhere, I still believe she will outdo Saina one day, not just because she beat LXR today whom I've to admit was far from her Olympic and previous best. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Sindhu still have another albeit 2nd-tier but reliable CHN WS opponent in Jiang YJ tomorrow before we even think of the final where Wang YH is likely to be the other contender. As for LXR, let her two defeats in the hands of Lu Lan and now Sindhu be her wake-up call. Of course,nobody in his right mind will write her off just yet, far from it, but she had better refocus herself and get down to really hard and serious working on her game to rise to another level, at the very least regain her form.
After watching the Chen Long - Gurusaidutt match replay, I 'm quite sure the title is Chen Long's to lose, and he's the defending champion. Next week is the JPN Open, we shall see if he can go one better in dealing with Lee CW in the absence of Lin Dan.
as far as i remember.. .sindhu and jiang have met before and it was a tough tough battle which jiang won at last 21-18 in the decider. sindhu has a realistic chance here.. .she just needs to stay with yanjiao jiang and everything else will fall in place. newayz.. .it should be a good match to watch.
Sindhu is too inconsistent for my liking at the moment . Oneday she plays like world beater and nextday she plays like bad loser. She needs to tighten her game otherwise she will be faded out easily . Anyway congrats for Sindhu and my Indian friends . ha ha
17 year olds tend to be this way. You'll be hard pressed to find any with a semblance of consistency, the mighty Chinese included.
people r taking li xuerui's defeats too seriously. she had all the awards and activities to attend after the olympics. her mistake was playing so soon. should take a rest like the rest of the olympic gold medalists.
I woke up to a shocking news this morning!!! Sindhu beats LXR! Since its the first post-olympics tournament for LXR, I at least expected LXR to win it in three sets but loosing the match was the shocking part... I guess LXR was way too lax now that she has Olympic and All england titles in her kitty ... Sindhu did a great job and she should certainly get credit for winning this match. But to prove herself she needs to be consistent which is only matter of time and experience, I am looking for to seeing in this situation regularly. On the other hand Chinese players seem to put more focus, determination only in important tournaments and taking it easy in others and quite understandably in post-Olympic tournament with most of the big names giving it a miss. Taking nothing away from Sindhu's effort in winning this match, I see there are a few areas she needs to improve mainly being her physic and fitness, other being her backhand, net play. Adding a bit more venom in to her smashes to convert them in to a outright winner is also another area.
India has a new star in Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, aged 17 years. This is indeed good for Indian badminton and Saina Nehwal who now does not have to bear the burden of women’s singles play alone. PVS trains at the Hyderabad's Gopichand Badminton Academy and is supported by Olympic Gold Quest, a non-profit foundation that identifies and supports Indian athletes. At the Li Ning China Masters Super Series badminton tournament 2012, she stunned London 2012 Olympics gold medalist Li Xuerui of China beating her 21-19, 9-21, 21-16 and entered the semifinals of the said tournament. Hopefully, she prevails against China’s JYJ (S4) today and goes on to win the title on Sunday, 16/9/2012.
if someone said that it's not the worst SS, so what?gold medalist already lost to the countrywomen of the worst SS.
My first post in this thread. With so many weaknesses as describe above, she still managed to beat the All England and Olympic Champion !!!
You have a point there,the CBSL coinciding and overlapping the SS does have its effects, and it will be so all the way to Dec. I heard the CBSL offers attractive payouts, so much so that both LCW and Taufik chose to play there and gave this CHN Masters a miss but not for the JPN Open for which they are obliged to their sponsors if I'm not wrong. What to do,from what I've read somewhere, even table-tennis professionals are much better off financially than our badminton stars.
