TheSTar Sept 19th MALAYSIA feel that their men's doubles pairs – Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat and Mohd Fairuzizuan Tazari-Lin Woon Fui – stand a chance to win the world title. But veteran Dane Jens Eriksen says “no way”. The 36-year-old Eriksen, who is searching for his first world title together with Martin Lungaard Hansen, sees only two pairs who are up to the mark to claim the title. “I feel that Martin and I stand a very good chance to go all the way. Age is not a factor and we believe that we are in top condition at the moment,” said Eriksen. “I only see the top seeds, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng (of China), as the pair who are capable of stopping us from winning our first world title.” He added that similar to the Malaysians, the Indonesian pairs were also not good enough to win the title. The Indonesian pairs in the fray are Hong Kong Open champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan and Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto. Eriksen's and Hansen's hopes of clinching their first world title are also boosted by the latter's recovery from a recent knee injury. “Martin has recovered fully and he is no longer bothered by injury. He has been testing the knee in training and it is holding up well,” said Eriksen. The Danes, who won the All-England and European Championships titles this year, are the third-fourth seeds and they are drawn to play against Chong Ming-Kien Keat in the quarter-finals. The Chinese top seeds are in the same half of the draw.
What about if Lin Dan team up with Lee CW to play men's doubles? Or Lin Dan/Bao CL for a pure CHN pair? Once upon a time, long time best singles players Lee Ling Wei and Han Ai Ping decided to play doubles together, then they were invincible in doubles also. So any double players should not claim they are the best, because the real best are playing singles...
That's a bit of a slap to all doubles players of any levels, isn't it? Basically, you're saying that they're all singles rejects and that the only reason they play doubles is because they can't make it in singles. Anyhow, back on topic, while only time will tell whether or not Eriksen's prediction will turn out favourably or not, I think they'll do well to remember the lesson of last year's WC. IIRC, they started as the #1 seed then only to lose to the favourite home pair.
Older should be wiser Malaysia and Indoensia should thank Eriksen for that, his statement should inject extra enegy to his opponents, Eriksen better win else he will find his words hard to swallow. I am sure every team like to meet Malaysia in the final as we have yet to proof that we can win in that stage but meeting Malaysian pair in QF or SF is no fun.
Indeed. I personally don't think the Danish pair will win it..because of the recent injury to Lundgaard-Hansen. If Choong/Lee can beat Kido/Hendra in the round of 16, they will have a very good chance.
Thanks, Eriksen Agree. Eriksen's using the wrong psychology. Belittling the MAS MD will only get them fired up.Malaysians are like that. They are quite happy chatting away until they hear their house is on fire! Now I wonder if CTF/LWW will play like bungling old fools......As for CCM/KKK, they won't win unless KKK let go of the XD.(Sure Rexy is confident KKK has two tanks, based on their intensive training lasting 4 hours. But training is different from competition. You have to think a lot more when competing and that burns up a lot of energy. Which means one of KKK's tanks will be leaking....And when it comes to the final stage,when winning could be by a whisker,being just a little bit fresher may be the winning edge.When fatigue sets in ,errors pile up and with the NSS, you lose a match because you make more errors.) So ,MAS, be wise, let KKK /WPT lose the XD. Pls give your Singapore cousin a break. They need it. Fight the war that matters.
I think Eriksen should not be too objective towards this matter...He is simply too confidence to himself and his partner...Don't forget this,there are no sure win or lose in the competition..I personally think that the level of MD is very near and any pair has the chance to win...So,just wait and see if the Danes pair will become the winner...But my heart tell me the winner is not them...Ha..ha...
Quick comment.. hmm, just want to make a comment as you brought some memories to last yr's WC...IMO, eventhough it takes 2 to tango in Men's Doubles, i think whichever pair(s) has/have the "best" remaining doubles player(s), to be specific Men's Doubles, that pair(s) will have a very high chance of going far & winning the title this yr...Just like last yr and in 2003 or even earlier.. So, on that note, can anyone possibly single or filter out that 1 or 2 or 3 "best" current doubles players in the tourney??..
Eriksen is too arogan . maybe he forgot that luluk/alven has beaten them before. And he also underestimate the malaysian and indonesian pair. Maybe he forgot the head to head below vs luluk/alven 2-3 vs markis/hendra 1-1 It is true that he has better head to head agains malaysian MD vs lee/chong 4-2 vs chan/koo 2-0
erm...the last meeting between CCM/KKK and eriksen/lungaard ended in malaysian's favour....T/U Cup....
And not forgetting two of their wins against choong & lee are during the all-england finals when they blew a huge lead away when they should have win it !
So true, meeting malaysian in all stages other than final will be scary. As for malaysians in the final, oh well they will end up in silver medal, even the opponent is relatively weaker.
malaysian pairs tend to falter at the final of big tournament. they need to improve their mental toughness, thou they showed great improvemnt under rexy now. not surprise if they fail at the SF stage. Eriksen had a point here.
That was twenty years ago!!! The last player to really have played singles and doubles competitvely was Park Joo Bong. Even then, he didn't play both at the same time. Zhang Ning did so a little bit. She played with Ge Fei when Gu Jun was inhured.