Chinese Badminton

He started and played well in G1 and probably thought he could take it but when he finally lost by deuce, he let it play on his mind in G2, thereafter it's downhill all the way, even making three misjudgements at the backline in a row.

It's the opposite of what transpired in his match with Lee Zii Jia where after prevailing narrowly, somewhat unexpectedly, in G1, 21-19, he then lost badly in G2, 11-21, but instead of wavering, he continued to fight with resolve to emerge victorious, much to his delight.

I believed that rousing win over a hotshot player he's not given much chance to beat injected a huge boost of self-confidence, which carried forward to the next round opponent, Prannoy, whom he managed to overcome despite dropping the opening set, 19-21, he actually turned G2 around with an emphatic 21-6 score to force a decider, which he went on to come out on top with an encouraging 21-18 while leading most of the way in the second half.

After that success, I think he got a bit carried away, what with rising hopes adding on to the pressure of the burden of expectations from others and himself. As such, he allowed that narrow loss in G1 by deuce to Kunlavut affect him too much, so much so that his game quickly unraveled in the second set as he couldn't stay focused by putting G1 behind him. Psychologically, he defeated himself with one unforced error after another as his opponent hardly did anything more than keep the shuttle in play.

Hope, he learned some positive lessons and gained valuable experience from both victories and defeats in the world championship journey, and emerged stronger in the future.

 

I want to give Han Yue a pat on her back for pushing An Se Young the full distance in the QFs of the Tokyo WC '22, even saving four matchpoints before going down 20-22 in the decider.

Well done, Han Yue. Way to go !

TBH, I'm beginning to like her lately, her positive attitude on court, never-say-die spirit, earnestly working hard for every point, apparently a quiet, self-disciplined student, listening intently and nodding at whatever the coach says on courtside. On a number of occasions, the way she gave much higher-ranked and fancied opponents a run for their money earned my approbation.

My intuition tells me she might make a breakthrough in her young career within a year or two, I hope so.

 

Yes, I was especially impressed by what transpired in G3, a thrilling, well-fought , breathtaking close finish where Han Yue saved 5 matchpoints but, unfortunately, couldn't prevail in the deuce, 20-22; the tremendous effort, attacking, defending and counterattacking, took the wind out of her sail in terms of energy, not confidence.

If only Han Yue had come out on top , I'm pretty sure she would've put up a fiercer fight with Akane Yamaguchi than An Se Young did in G2.

Right, Han Yue is a fighter with grit determination. Agree, she is mentally stronger than Wang Zhiyi and , I hope, she turns out to be just as stable but mentally tougher than Chen Yufei as well.

As for Zhang Yiman, she's still only 25,no doubt a bit late to come on the scene, her best performance so far being a bronze medal finish at 2021's world championships at Huelva, Spain , where in the Semifinal clash with the eventual winner, Akane Y, she gave as good as she got before going down by the identical score of 19-21, in fact, leading 16-12 in G2 at some point. The commentator was heard praising ZYM for some of her shotmaking, using words like "masterclass", "stunning".

Frankly, I still hope and wish to see Zhang Yiman once day emerging as a late bloomer, following in the footsteps of her senior past legendary great, Zhang Ning.

 

I suspect Li Shifeng , who skipped or withdrew from a couple of tournaments the last month or so , is recovering from some minor injury (possibly sustained during training).

Noticed, in this match , he is not his usual aggressive self in attack, defense and counterattack.