Just to add, it's rare to see Rajiv Ouseph left stranded so often by the opponent's smashes ,Liu Haichao is one of the very few who did that to him. Hmm...Li Xuerui playing WD is worth considering, good idea.
Chinese singles department is in good hands, more good news as Han Yue just beat the mature, experienced and established Saina Nehwal in two straight sets and winning in style to boot, in the words of Steen Pedersen. Whilst Han Yue has good court coverage and tenacious in defense, I still feel she has to improve on her stamina. In G2 she was breathing heavily at some point and at one point in the latter half, she had several chances to smash but chose to clear them instead as if she's afraid of having to cover the long diagonal. Luckily she was well in the lead by then, so it's fine to be a bit more cautious. However, to my surprise, in the final lap, she switched to cross-court smashes, sacrificing power for placement which caught her opponent off-guard a couple of times. That, to me, shows she is a thinking player, esp early in G1 when she realized lifting too often and predictably only invites Saina's power smashes, so she adjusted her strategy to mix up her shots more even executed some deceptive net play, and when she needed to lift she made sure she didn't give Saina too much time to get behind the shuttle while ensuring she herself is ready to receive the smashes. Way to go, Han Yue. Heartiest congratulations for winning her maiden pro title in her third attempt in three different finals, the Syed Modi WTS300 WS champion. At age 19 only a week ago and in the first year of her professional career, she is doing well. But still a long way to go, it's only just the beginning. A fine start nevertheless. Keep it up. Jiayou !
Congratulations to Liu Haicho. He deserves the title as he was the best player. With further exposure he will be the top junior in China. Better than Ren Pengbo IMHO. Its clear that the juniors have been training hard at home otherwise as a qualifier he wouldn't have been able to win. And his potential must have been noticed by his coaches as he was selected to go out to play at the Vietnam Open . But it is significant to note that he needed to play a few tournaments to feel confident to win his first title, i.e. playing at home isn't enough. LH has speed, deception,changes of speed, great anticipation and a lethal smash. All attributes of a talented player.
The Scottish Open 2018 MS Final, Liu Haichao vs Sun Feixiang, fighting badminton all the way. SFX has improved significantly but LHC even better, a proactive, swift attacking player with a strong smash, a healthy variety of shots, a tinge of creativity and deception. The way LHC celebrated after the match, pounding the floor, gives me the feeling he will go far one day; an exciting young player to watch. Hope to see the same for SFX too. Liu Haichao, 20, born 22nd March 1998, currently WR515, has only played two small tournaments before coming here and progressed from qualifier to champion beating en route the likes of Pablo Abian, Lucas Claerbout, Rajiv Ouseph, and finally overcoming his fellow teammate , Sun Feixiang who beat the Dutch Mark Caljouw in the semis. To be honest,I actually like his game better than his illustrious seniors,Shi Yuqi and Chen Long. By the way, the two commentators, one male and one female , are a refreshing change from Gillian Clark and Steen Pedersen. I hope Badminton Scotland who provides very good livestream coverage - much appreciated - can get a bigger sponsor and upgrade the Scottish Open to WTS500 or at least WTS300 the following years. The Sun Feixiang vs Mark Caljouw and Liu Haichao vs Rajiv Ouseph matches are worth watching too, and they are available on youtube.
Agree with you on the potential of Liu Haicho. But I think Steen is, along with Morten Frost the most professional of the lot. There's another who comments with Steen who is v. good. These 3 provide insights on the game and strategies and backgrounds that comes from years of playing and their love and dedication. The Scottish commentator is not bad but not in the same category. I was just surprised at her scale of observation.
The commentators, Gail Emms & Paul Hand. As usual this tournament is well organized and looked grande despite only graded Super 100 event, like it! It's suprising outcome, coming from nowhere, Liu Haichao, rank #515 won Scottish Open, stunned more favoured Sun Feixiang (gold medalist of 2016 AJC & WJC), wow!
Yes. The organisation was well planned and looked grand. They put in a lot of effort and hard work. Disappointed they didnt have livestream from the start and didn't have hawk eye except in the final.
The Sun Feixiang vs Mark Caljouw and Liu Haichao vs Rajiv Ouseph matches are worth watching too, and they are available on youtube. [/QUOTE] Link please, Justin Sir especially the one between Liu and Ouseph.
Link please, Justin Sir especially the one between Liu and Ouseph.[/QUOTE] Here Sun Feixiang vs Mark Caljouw Liu Haichao vs Rajiv Ouseph, my apologies, this one unavailable on youtube but I managed it to catch it on livestream on semifinals day and assumed it'd be on youtube later. Badminton Scotland youtube has some of the videos https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialSBU/videos
I just realized that Liu Haichao had to play 8 matches from qualies to final for the MS crown. He became the second Chinese after Zhao Jianhua in 1984 to win the Scottish Open. http://sports.sina.com.cn/others/badmin/2018-11-26/doc-ihpevhck6922815.shtml
Here Sun Feixiang vs Mark Caljouw Liu Haichao vs Rajiv Ouseph, my apologies, this one unavailable on youtube but I managed it to catch it on livestream on semifinals day and assumed it'd be on youtube later. Badminton Scotland youtube has some of the videos https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialSBU/videos[/QUOTE] Thanks. That's the one I couldn't find too.
http://sports.sina.com.cn/others/ba...U0Om5IuMPenoVnepvctkCW-xwaMvuMS8GgLf5rEF_VkxA Louder and louder. It's an article saying the Chinese faked the ages of the players at the world junior championships.
To be honest, I won’t be surprised if it’s true. There has been a bad track record for this sort of behavior across different sports like gymnastics etc
An old issue, not only for CHN. At one time, even Li Yongbo slammed the practice and cracked down on it, don't tell me it's resurfaced again. Have to await investigation by the relevant authority and CBA's response, not just an allegation. For gymnastics (where size, weight and suppleness matter more, younger kids are more pliant, cmiiw), it's a case of over-reporting their age, not under-reporting. I have the following questions and points to ponder on: 1) the source of the weibo goes by the name of 'medicated oil or tiger balm oil' and claims it's an American junior badminton player who railed about it , " Chinese team cheated",but without naming the culprits; 2) is the World Junior Championships that important to resort to doing that and risks getting caught and embarrassed ?; 3) there is no foolproof or exact scientific method to determine a person's real age though blood test is touted to be one but it is affected by one's diet, exercise and lifestyle choices as reported here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-test-claims-able-reveal-biological-age.html; 4) in previous years,Team CHN clean sweep all the gold medals, both team gold and all five individual titles, eg 2017, nobody complained about it then, why now when CHN won only the team gold and the individual BD and GD doubles, losing the MS at the semis, WS in the final, and XD in the semis, that is only two out of the five individual titles ? 5) age does not equal experience and experience does not necessary equal skills; 6) from what I've gathered in the past, most parents in China tend to over-report their children's age and do so for economic reasons, such as getting their children into school earlier, enter the workforce earlier or to qualify for the work entitlements based on age criterion, etc, but this practice is no longer possible in recent years when the government computerised all the record-keeping, including home birth (mostly in rural areas); 7) while it's not an excuse, once these players enter the senior level pro circuit, does their actual age really matter (except perhaps for the very young and very old) ? 8) is BWF taking any action, any official complaint lodged, not just on CHN but across the board ?
