Gao Ling... who else hates her?

yes she is nice la. dont anyohhow flame people

 

wow that's great !! Do you know her e-mail or something like that ??

 

NOt sure about Gao Ling but i don't like zhang jun. whenever he starts to lose he tries to cheat, and distract his opponents

 

Well, I don't know them in person but I believe they just had a bad day
There isn't any person that can be friendly all day all time in his/her whole life, is there ??
I'm also a fans of them so I will really disappointed if they are really rude and not friendly

 

Exactly what my friend told me. She was totally in shock as her request (within a small group as well) was harshly rejected. How many times u can see the pros in person? Never have to metion how much effort u need to put in, just in order to participate the event. I feel very sorry for my friend.

 

Non-English speaking Athletes

You know what, English speaking fans should give non-English speaking athletes the benefit of the doubt. I saw the recently held MVP Cup in Manila last month ( Europe vs. Asia). Among the Asians playing were Taufik, Lind Dan, Zang Ning, Saralee & Sathinee of Thailand, Koo Kian Keat & Chan Choong Ming of Malaysia. They were generally shy because they probably dont know how to express themselves. If only they could understand us fans in English or their native tongue, they would really be a lot friendlier, warm, and accommodating. In contrast, the Europeans, especially Gail Emms & Nathan Robertson among others, were really warm, jovial, and play up to the audience. Having a good grasp of English really boosts up your confidence. So please, give non-English speaking athletes a break. I, as a Filipino, have a very good grasp of English having studied it and exposed to the language a lot would sometimes even be intimidated talking to English speaking foreigners. What more can you expect from the Chinese, Indonesians, Malaysians, Thais, Koreans, and Japanese. They usually envy us Filipinos for communicating in English very well. They're now trying to catch up by coming here to learn the language.

As far as I'm concerned I like Gao Ling for being very smiling even under intense presure during matches.

But that's as far as she is concerned though. I can't say the same with her doubles partner Zhang Jun who acts like an arrogant stumpy prick!

 

Without knowing the circumstances, I'd lean towards giving her the benefit of the doubt. May be Bobo was right that Gao isn't really the person she projects herself to be on the court, may be he just caught her on at a bad time. But, from my own observation, most of the pros at the WC seemed to be quite friendly. My seat was actually in the section where a lot of the players came to sit in, so I got to see a lot of them hanging about and interacting with fans. Most were quite serious looking and, curiously enough, didn't appear excited when their teammates were playing. This goes practically for everybody I saw, Thais, Chinese, Indonesians, Malaysians, Danes, Philipinos, et al. Obviously they all supported their teammates or otherwise they wouldn't have come and watched, but they didn't cheer. The most notable exception to this were the US players. Raju Rai was the top cheerleader for Tony/Howard.

Anyhow, going back to their friendliness aspect to their fans, even Zhang Jun whom most everybody here seem to love to hate I saw spent quite some time chatting with a young kid and a couple of other people, giving out autographs and getting his pictures taken. They did kept to themselves, so that's probably why they didn't appear to be approachable.

BTW, a strange thing I noticed about Zhang Jun: he writes with his righthand! At least, he signed autographs with his righthand when I saw him did it.

 

I was at the Aviva Open in July and the impression I got from the players was that they are generally not very talkative before their games.

If you are looking for pix, autographs, etc. they are more accomodating after they've played their matches, especially if they win.

Most professional players tend to focus on their warm-ups and stretches and do not like to be disturbed before they are due to play. It's the tension and nerves especially in big tournaments. They are almost always more relax afterwards.

 

I also think that maybe she was in a bad mood this day ... i don't think Gao ling will reject every non chinese speakers, Cuz " Big paul " told me that gao ling speaks very fluently english ... try next time =p for me you are already luckky to meet her as i never met any great chinese player ....=/

 

No great Chinese player? How about Miss Pi Hongyan?

 

At least we know CH is a very nice person..

 

For some reason, most of the chinese players were standoffish. Many refused to sign autographs or take pictures with fans. And this was for the whole time they were there, not just one or two days. I've heard complaints about this from many people, too. One of my chinese friend refused to even cheer for the chinese team because of how she saw them treat people. To me, that's just not acceptable, if it's just before a match, I can understand that, but that wasn't the case.

 

Today I was talking to Tony G about Worlds, and we were talking about how IBF did not plan some aspects of the tournament that well, namely VIP seating and tickets. He told me that they had no plans for either seating arrangements or even rides and accomodations for the Sports Ministers of Indonesia, China, and Malaysia. In fact, they had to buy their own seats. The Chinese Sports Minister was able to get a Box Seat on the first or 2nd day, but he refused, because he wanted to be courtside in order to congradulate and shake the hands of the Chinese players that won their matches. When he was told that this was impossible (at least until semis and finals I guess, with the VIP courtside section not in place until then) he left, and basically ordered the Chinese team not to give out autographs or chat with fans or the media as a way of letting off steam and getting back at IBF for their poor planning. Hence, grumpy Gao Ling and teammates. I don't know exactly how true this is, anyone heard anything along these lines? Can anyone confirm or deny?

 

It is a sensitive topic but i do agree with the consensus here, most chinese women players are standoffish, borrowing from vtec101, by order (ironchef) or not, i dunno. So far only one i didnt hear bad comments about is XXF. After each match, win or lose, they (women players) hurry out of the arena. My fren came back from 05 WC said he didnt see one women player signed autograph, and brushing off approaching fans.

I think the chinese men players are alot better than their women players.

let change topic a bit, on taufik. Man this guy has changed, he is humble and gracious according to this person. Taufik signs autograph even when he was a spectator (checking out LD vs PG match ). When this fren ask for a photo of him, his mother, yes, taufik's mother, said: why don't i shoot the camera with u and taufik together After his win over LD, and congratulating his family/frens and officials, he stay on to sign autograph for the mass of fans, with smiles. Then he had to leave for some matter, BUT HE CAME BACK to the fans and resume signing autograph.


( on taufik's yellowcard, to me, that is frustration expressed to himself, not meant to the fans or his opponent)

 

My experience..

I had a chance to asked and encountered a similar situation in this WC with some of China's players, and yes incl. Gao Ling. However, it was before her Finals match. Here's what happened. I had asked her to take a picture with her and Huang Sui, but for some reason she refused and said, "no, later if it's ok". At first I thought boy, how come she refused. Whilst earlier on i was able to get a quick pick with ZhangJW/YangW. Granted, after refusing to take a pic with me, i asked another person why she refused and the person said most likely that's because she was about to play a match, and most players don't want to be bothered prior to them playing. I then went to watch the match and waited after her match was over. And sure enough, after all players received their awards and were able to relax, i went down and was able to take a pic with both GaoL and HuangS. Both were also taking pics with other people and players and were in a happy mood. They both received my request well. You can see my pic with them in the Pictures with Players thread.

Out of the other China's players i've met, i'll say XXF was the most friendly and approachable. I asked her for a pic and she welcome my request without delay. Of course, i had learned my lesson and took it in between a game break. You can also see my pic with her and ZhangN in the same thread above. However, when i asked ZhangN, she seemed irritated, not in a mood to do so.
As for LinDan, i got the same reaction like GaoL, and it was after his match, i believe against PGade, when he was warming down. Once he rejected it, i didn't want to approach him again.
For the other China's players, i was able to take some pics with them. Overall, yes, they seemed to be reserved and kept to themselves.

As for the Korean players, i was able to take a pic with their 2 WD player. Of course, i specifically selected a time when they were not playing.

So, lesson learned for me and hopefully to others wanting to get autographs or pics.

 

Actually that's his gf's/fiance's mother. Taufik's parents didn't come, just his gf/fiance and her parents. Yes, they were friendly and quite down to earth when i met them, as i and others were given a handshake by them on one of the evening they came. Very open and welcoming attitude. Also, after Taufik's MS Finals win, i approached them whilst they were sitting in the crowd to ask a request, and i was able to converse with them normally. Didn't feel any attitude or "arrogant" problems from them, seemed very down-to-earth and happy. Eventhough i know Taufik's gf's father ows 3 TV stations and numerous businesses in Indonesia.

Yes, seemed like Taufik has "changed", at least from what i experienced. You can also see his pic in the Pictures with Players thread of him and the team going out for a dinner, willing to hang around even with us normal, everyday people. You can confirm this with gunawan(another BC member). Even on the day he and the team went back to Indonesia, he shake hands with me and a friend to bid farewell and seemed gracious about it. So was his gf, seemed like she is also down-to-earth, doesn't seem like a "show-off" or "arrogant"..

 

From what i experienced, Huang Sui, BaoCL and a couple others seemed down-to-earth. As gunawan(BC member) can attest to it. He had pictures with them eating out together with Lilyana Natsir(another Indonesian player) in a restaurant, see Pictures with Players thread..

 

Can't hate such a nice girl