I'm not 100% sure what you meant by that post Justin But to remove any kind of doubt about my eyewitness testimony, here's the official results from Danish Open 1999: http://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=720D4906-348B-49C3-9801-F897F7099DCE&draw=1 As you can see, PEH not only beat Dong Jiong 15-8 15-8, but also took care of Taufik and Sun Jun afterwards, before winning the tournament. While PEH's top level only lasted a very short period of time, around the OG '96, he somehow found some of that at the DO '99, winning it in style infront of his home crowd. This was more or less the end of his career. In 2000 he didn't win any big tournaments, but started to loose to players he had beaten before, such as Gade and notably Sun Jun at the first round of OG '00. This really came as no surprise, because PEH was 35 years old at that point. He was - as I wrote earlier - a "late bloomer", which really is why he peaked for such relative short bursts of time... As for Dong Jiong's comments about winning all matches vs. PEH except the OG final... He has either been misquoted, badly translated, or he's simply, well, you know... making himself appear better than he was... No way he simply don't know that he lost again to his OG nemesis.
Let my just tell you why I reacted to this. I don't recall so many matches from the top of my head, but DO'99 is one that I do recall very clearly. I was getting close to my own prime (at age 18) and was actually a line referee at one of the first round matches. So seeing court-side PEH winning over all these good players (that I was looking up to at this point), was really something I remembered. DJ was his opponent in the OG. Sun Jun was playing so many matches vs. the Danes back then, especially we recall the WC '97, where he beat a young Gade in the quarters, an old PEH in the semis, and then lost to Peter Rasmussen in the final, simply because he didn't have the physique (a match very similar to LD vs. LCW final in WC '13). Sun Jun, back in '99 had beaten PEH so many times in a row, that we all thought it was going to be the end of PEH at the semis in DO '99. But PEH - at the age of 34 - by sheer will, just wanted to have that final win on home soil before ending his career, survived a match point to take it 17-16 in the third set. So when I read your post, I just was 100% sure: That's not true.... ;-)
Actually, I had Dong Jiong's memory in mind when I wrote that post questioning his accuracy as I tend to believe what you said as you're not so personally involved, i.e. less anxious or stressed or psychologically affected, reconstructing one's memory, as he was. In other words, your eyewitness account is more credible than his.
To add, @FeatherBlaster, you were there as an observer, an impartial one I supposed though you're expected to be supporting Danish players but that's beside the point, whereas Dong Jiong was a direct participant, personally involved in that fateful, dramatic match, hence the psychological impact on him is greater. It's possible, as you alluded, that he's misquoted out of context when he referred to that painful defeat and the circumstances surrounding or closer to that event when he said he's never lost to PEHL since then except for that specific match and forgetting to mention the particular loss you mentioned he suffered three years later. That's why I say his memory is more affected than yours. Btw, I have no reason to doubt what you said regarding the DO'99 outcome but, unfortunately, I searched the web but couldn't find details on Dong Jiong's participation as only the final outcome was available on wikipedia showing PEHL as the winner and Wong Choon Han as the runner-up. Anyway, thanks for your input.
Well, you could simply click on the link I posted above, and see all the matches played.... For your convenience, I'll repeat it here: http://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=720D4906-348B-49C3-9801-F897F7099DCE&draw=1 As you can see, he played PEH in the third round, after beating Hashim from Malaysia and a local Dane in the first two rounds.
Well done China for entering the final of the Asian junior championships 2016 mixed team event. They beat a very strong Japanese team by a 3-0 margin. The key game was Sun Feixiang against Koki Watanabe, who is quite a good player. I was surprised after having lost the first set SF managed to turn the match around to win. This was the second match and was vital as it enabled China to go two up. The final against Korea will be interesting as in the round robin when they met Korea had fielded a weaker team and so lost badly to China. This time round the Korean team are new faces. Clever stategy.
Congratulations China juniors for winning the Asian Junior Championships. They all played well. Sun again won his match to give them a two game lead but it was Chen Yufei who clinched the match. Lets hope they will do well in the individual event starting tomorrow.
I'm very surprised that Luo Yu and Luo Ying were chosen over TianQing/Zhao yunlei, or even Bao Yixin. This could turn out to be a mistake. I also feel bad that Bao Yixin was not chosen for XD either.
I think the reason for this is that ZYL doesn't have the stamina to perform in two events anymore. She has been playing with injuries.
Yes, ZYL doesnt have stamina for 2 events. But I think BaoYixin/Tangjinhua would have had a better chance to win. Or Bao Yixin/Tian Qing.
Zhao Yunlei is 29 years old already , 4 years older than at LOG'12 where she won double gold in one edition for XD and WD. In the recent one, two years she is beset with minor injuries which because she has to play many more tournaments , esp in WD, in order to get into the top 8 for Rio OG qualification meant she has little time between tournaments to recuperate, let alone have sufficient rest. This plus the accumulated fatigue is beginning to take a toll on her, as a result not only her WD but also XD was affected as shown in the recent tournament results. To think that CHN actually has so many other WD combinations who are world-beaters and champion material that due to poor planning or unforeseen circumstances she is not sending their very best two WD pairs to Rio OG - is a galling setback to their Olympic dreams.
Yeah, so many high potential combinations,just to add a few others,eg, Xia Huan/Tiang Qing, Xia Huan/Zhong Qianxin, Tang Jinhua/Zhong Qianxin, Huang Yaqiong/Tang Jinhua, Bao Yixin/Zhong Qianxin, Bao Yixin/Huang Yaqiong, and so on and so forth, several of whom have beaten the best ROW pairs.
It's not very wise of China to rely on one player to play in two disciplines, considering she has so many top players. ZN may go home empty handed.
So taking out Zhao Yunlei alone to concentrate on XD is not enough, Zhang Nan too ? Too late now, it seems. Li Yongbo is taking a gamble. If this Rio Olympics turns out to be CHN's worst performance in the last decade or two, I'm afraid calls for LYB to step down may grow louder, earlier retirement for him.
I was looking back at the matches of the China Masters 2016 and enjoyed the performances of the juniors. In particular Tang Zhenning, Lu Guanzu, LGP, S Yuqi, Zhu Siyuan and Zhao Junpeng. They provided some interesting and exciting matches. My hope, and I wish the CBA will allow us to see them play in the remaining tournaments after the Rio Olympics. There are also many others like Ye Binghong, Lei lanxi, Sun Feixiang, Liu Haicho, Guo Kai, Zhou Zeqi and Wu Xin as well. The badminton world needs more new and exciting juniors competing amongst themselves to take on the senior players. Their participation will "Light up " the GPG matches and the lower tier tournaments, and also increase the number of fans and people watching these tournaments in the different countries of the world.
Just seen Chinas Table Tennis federations warm up matches for Rio. Its a big event with media coverage and a large number of supporters and spectators cheering their favourites. The senior men players stacked up against the juniors and the ladies even played against some young boys. And the standard of the juniors was very good indeed. Its very noticeable that the head coach, Liu Guoliang and his team sat in the stadium and left the coaches of the seniors and juniors get on with the play. And the coaches were seriously professional. I make this comment to show how well they prepare their juniors to move into the seniors "shoes". Maybe the CBA is doing this now with their performance in the recent Asian Junior championships?
I hope it is not a personal thingie on ZYL's part not to play WD to screw up TQ. IMO, TQ/ZYL are be top contender for gold. CHN has so many top players??? I can't see which pair in CHN is better than TQ/ZYL? It is not wise for CHN to field the Luo twins, Mother of all mistake.
I seriously doubt Zhao Yunlei would do that to spite Tian Qing. Besides, the final say is not hers to make, there are the coaches team and Li Yongbo to make such an important decision; it's too heavy a responsibility for her. Furthermore, the CHN NOC or the China Table Tennis and Badminton Centre won't allow the selection to be solely in the hands of the players themselves. There's no way LYB can shirk his major share of the responsibilities and burden as Head Coach. If anything, I'd say it may be the others who couldn't help but expressed their displeasure that Zhao Yunlei is once again favoured with two rare but precious chances at the Olympics when so many others don't even have one shot at it. The new BWF/IOC max quota per NOC certainly put Team CHN, specifically LYB, in a spot.
