Hmm,, the MD Final is basically the same lineup as last year's US Open's MD Final, also won by Tony Gunawan but partnered with Howard Bach. Seemed like the score this time around is much closer than last year's one. Last year the US pair also won in straight sets over Boe/Mogensen, but the score was not as close. Any pics from SF or Finals days??.. I agree the Indo's squad needs to bring up to speed their 2nd and 3rd teams. They have to start finding replacement for the "senior" players soon. Yah, Tony is able to bagged a bit more prize money this time around, winning in 2 fields. Not bad for him and Halim for a Thxgiving holiday bonus to take home..hehehe..
Well, I can say that for men's doubles and perhaps mixed doubles, Team Indonesia does have some pretty good players. I have confidence in Hendra Gunawan/Joko Riyadi who have been turning up some good wins since end of last year. It is time for them to be promoted to the first team next year. Meanwhile, Yoga Ugikasah/Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki had their best results so far, a quarter-final placing in a 3* tournament with victory over Jung Jae Sung/Han Sang Hoon. This pair + Rian Sukmawan/Rendra Wijaya will constitute the 2nd team and they should be involved in the satellite + those 1* to 3* WGP tourneys. For mixed, Devin/Vita has shown that they deserve more chance to go to the higher rated tourneys. They will fight with Anggun/Yunita to see who's better able to accompany Nova/Butet in the first team. Meanwhile, Rizal/Endang will remain in the 2nd team. As reported by Bola, it was unfortunate that Muhd Rizal broke his finger in a soccer match! Will it affect his career...we shall await. For women's singles and doubles, the standard of the first team is improving and the next year is important as we hope that some of them can break into the top 10. Jo/Greysia should be there....while Maria Kristin has also shown some glimpse that she should at least be in the top 20 by next year. It is in the men's singles that I am most concerned with. Except for Sony and Simon, Team Indonesia basically has no one to backup. I didn't see the youngsters (Fauzi Adnan, Tommy Sugiarto, etc) being involved in overseas tournaments.
Lee Hyun Il wins! Did anyone see the match? Did Lee attack Mo's right side with drives much? Also how was the lighting in the arena? I'm trying to see if Lee took advantage of Mo's eye problem.
Here's my take on Indo's squad.. Pardon all if the topic has gone a bit off with the original thread topic: Here's my opinion.. Regarding the MD, this is PBSI's main forte. Personally, i don't know how PBSI was able to "continue" their MD dominance esp. after Rexy/Ricky retired(mid 90s), but perhaps, PBSI should go that route now if they are not..I know Rexy partnered with Tony before, just before retiring. But how about Candra/Sigit??Have they been partnered from the very first get go??.. And i'm wondering, esp. with quite a large gap in age between the 1st and 2nd and even 3rd team, how will they improve on their standard or quality of play. I understand the 2 young pairs are showing improvements, but they are still far. If Candra/Sigit and Flandy/Eng Hian say call it quits in 1 or 2 yrs., who will the new young pairs sparred with??..I know Luluk/Alven are the ones PBSI is counting on to continue after Candra/Sigit, but they are still finding their niche..But after them??.. Hmm, i know XD is not one of PBSI main forte. But i think their XD squad also need a revamped lineup. As we all can see, during the last 2 tourneys at China Open and HK Open, the pair of Nova/Butet weren't able to even reach the Semi-Finals. Yet they are the World Champs. I guess, when all said and done and with all the heavy weight pairs are in town, they are not up to the challenge yet..Devin/Vita(who was Nova's partner) still need more experience playing together..After them??.. I will hold off making any comments on these 2 fields, knowing that these 2 fields are arguably and probably the weakest links in PBSI. Esp. for WS, they are still far off, no matter what happened or even with a few 1st place finishes in smaller tourneys recently. As for WD, yes, concur Jo/Greysia is their "top" WD pair as of now. After them??.. MS, regarding the MS, i also want to know how PBSI was able to continue their MS "success", esp. after ABKusuma, HArbi, Hendrawan, Joko to name a few. Hmm, let's see, Taufik said his next goal is the AE, the last title to accomplish for his personal feat. But we don't know how long he will stay in PBSI, say after he wins that?? It'll be a *real* concerned if he steps out of PBSI within 1-2 yrs., which he could do.. Sony seemed like he is almost there, everytime he plays in tournament. But for some reason, bam, mental block appears, if not his physique is not there. Simon...hmm, what can i say??..Perhaps they should start sending out the new young players and "invest" in them more.. Anyways, we shall see what and how PBSI have in tow for the upcoming 2006 yr. Many questions to be answered. They've said their main plan and focus next yr. will be on the upcoming Thomas and Uber Cup, esp. bringing back the Thomas Cup. Also, sometimes i keep wondering, why in the world did PBSI cancelled all the MD, WS and WD players that have qualified for the World Championships, to come esp. after they all have qualified and ready to go?? Even for financial reason or goal oriented reason..As a matter of fact, they also made some last minute cancellation on a couple other tournaments..Until now, it still doesn't make sense, as even their senior pair of Flandy and EngHian were eliminated in the WC..Will this trend continue??.. And will they start sending their newer up-and-coming pairs or keep on playing their "senior" players..Personally, I think the former is the most logical and reasonable route that PBSI must take in the very near future, if not now..After all, their main opponents in the next 5 yrs. are the young and junior players from other countries who either have already jumpstart playing in the reg. international tourneys/competitions or just starting to
the lighting was ok. the light bulbs werent huge, so it couldnt have effected their sight much, but shon kept complaining about bad calls by the line judges, and kept looking up and pointing to the roof. i didng really like his attitude. he was getting owned pretty bad, but he did pretty good the second half of hte first game. he was down 13-6, and caught up 13-13, but then lost the next two points 15-13 he lost. lee's smashes were really good and precise
I don't think any of PBSI official members can sleep after this results. I don't know why the reason Tony Gunawan quit national team and moved to USA with study as a reason. But I bet because of the "Golden Boy " system in PBSI. Example: If the official like one player than the others, usually he had more facility and more money from sponsors. And they also kick Halim Heryanto out after they thought he can't play high badminton level anymore. The result: Halim with Tony already got 2 MD titles and Tony already had 3 including World Championship. And suprise3x, our XD doubles who PBSI projected as second XD after Nova/Lili lost to Tony/Cheng who partner for the first time. PBSI, eat your heart out!!! In other hand it quite irony,how come PBSI let go such talented players ????? :crying: Something must be wrong in this organization. And if this is not fix soon, our badminton will be in danger zone.
The reason is easy. PBSI want to make money as much as possible by always sending the players who will at least reach QF or higher in a tournaments. They dont want to waste lots of money to junior players who will suffer lots of lost than win in top tournaments therefore the PBSI will lost money. They used the reason that our junior players can't compete with other players yet. So junior players will be send to small tournaments that can guarantee a win. How will the junior learn then if thay don't had chance to fight with top players in the world? Look at China, Korea, Denmark, Japan , Malaysia and even Singapore. They sent their junior players to at least 4-5 top tournaments a year. The result: LD, BCL already become top players after they got sent to lots of 5 star tournament since 2001. Now theyhad Chen Jin. In WD, China had 5 pair in top 8. Korean Lee Hyo Jung play her first top tournaments when she was only 17 or 18 and now, she is one of the top WD and XD. Even Japan had a new player now. Denmark real strong in MD now. Malaysia even had a top 10 WS and Indonesia even didn't had a top 20. I am hoping PBSIwillchage their rules next year by sending junior players to top tournaments specially WS and WD. Its not a big deal if theylost in firstround if they met top players as long as they show fighting spirit and not loose attitude.
I don't think they are avoiding 5 or 6 tournaments. Come on, they had the skill. Halim just had to practice harder to catch the pro player rhtymn again after retired for a while. Maybe they just had schedule problem when they skip HK and China Open. If they want to avoid top tournaments, Tony will not enter the World Championship this year and fight all the top players and grab the title.
not sure I agree. If it's so simple to expolit Shon's problem how come he was able to beat Chen Hong / Sony in the Olympics ? I think he can be top 10 player level when he is in form Also he deserves big credit for competing in Badminton despite his disability. I remember I heard a commentator mention he had a chance to compete in handicaps category and chose not. (not sure if it's true or not). I hope to see him back in top form before he retires
I don't think it is a schedule problem. More one of finance I guess. Tony and Halim are proven pairing. But Halim is also lacking 'match rhythm' after being out for so long. It takes some time for anybody to get into the run of things. Playing in 5* doesn't help at this stage because you'd easily run into a seed and get knocked out early. What would be the point of losing in the 1st/2nd round? Difficult to get any rhythm like that. I figure this is a running in period for Halim. They could have easily gone to CHina as well but the field is too strong. I'm sure their aim in Taipei was to go far but not necessarily expect to win. Halim gets a few higher level matches under his belt again, starts to get his rhythm again, and fortunately, gets a win. All in all, these are good pointers for him to get his confidence back. I'm sure he will be really motivated to do well after leaving PBSI.
Concur, let's just *hope* and cross our fingers, esp. for Indonesian badminton supporters, that what you've written below, esp the last paragraph, will come to real fruition...-
Here's my opinion. I think it's partly scheduling and finance. Scheduling because remember, both are coaches and working with a paid contract(with OCBC). So, it's not as easy for them to just take 2 weeks every month or every other month and fly away and play in some tournaments. Remember, reg. tourneys are usually 5-6 days long, so their trip will take 1 week. Which leads us to the the finance factor:who will pay for their tournament trips?? Certainly not OCBC, unless both OCBC and Tony&Halim have somekind of a contract that require Tony&Halim to divvy up whatever they earn in playing in those tourneys. Which in turn, if one look at it, it'll be the same as them playing back with PBSI. Their coaching position is the main income, so to speak. Playing in outside tourneys, is more like a "moonlighting job", so to speak, as a side extra curriculur activities for them to collect extra bonus pay... Hopefully one of these days before beginning of next year, me or harimau or other people, can stop by OCBC and meet up with Halim and Tony and asked them what is their plan for next year. And come back and share with you guys..- sorry folkz if this thread has gone a bit off topic with the original thread post..
While I agree that it is necessary for PBSI to focus their effort on regeneration, it will be fruitless to send really junior players to 4 or 5* tournaments. Reason: they may not even be in the main draw and ended up losing in qualifying tournaments. What these players need are more match experiences at those satelitte and 1 to 3* tourneys. Winning breeds confidence and once they have the confidence, they can then "graduate" to the first team. Well, from past experiences, these junior players are sent to the nearby tournaments like Malaysia and Singapore Opens every year. It's difficult to get a title at even these smaller tourneys (eg: Chinese Taipei Open) because other countries may send their top players too sometimes, eg: Team Korea. They even let Shon Seung Mo and Lee Jae Jin to compete in the Malaysian Satelitte. I think it's a strategy to let Shon have the feeling of winning so that he's better prepared for next year. However, once a player/pair achieves certain ranking (eg: top 30), then, sending them to higher rated tourneys will be the priority so that now, they can experience playing against top pairs. Taking Team Indonesia's second team at the moment, I do think that Hendra Gunawan/Joko Riyadi and Devin Lahardi/Vita Marissa should be more or less ready to take on bigger fishes. The other young pairs (esp the women's singles) should remain competing only in the smaller tourneys.
Well, from the original draws, it's unlikely that Team Indonesia can get a title because of the presence of Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen, Lee Jae Jin/Lee Hyo Jung, and of course Tony Gunawan/Halim Heryanto. My original predictions were that Hendra/Joko to reach semi-final and get beaten by their super senior Tony/Halim. Meanwhile, Devin/Vita will reach the final and get beaten by Lee Jae Jin/Lee Hyo Jung. I think Tony/Cheng's victory over the current world no 1 is the biggest upset in the tournament. Once they have done that, winning the title becomes easier because the main opponent is only the Indonesian pair. Eventually, my predictions were correct. Tony/Halim did win the title, while Team Indonesia's best performance was a final appearance in mixed doubles. So, I will consider it a relatively good outing for the second team.
regarding the WC, Tony and Howard participate because they were representing the host country and travelling cost isnt much of the problem if in the US. just my 2cents
Mo's eye problem wasn't really known about until he got 2nd at the Olympics. Also he does deserve huge credit for getting to where he is at with such a big disadvantage!
agree, very unrecognized accomplishment. when i get a tiny nick on my hand or i ate little too much, my performance drop quite abit and then other players say i whine too much
