the other match i downloaded and watched was the XD final. while the scoring was tight, i somehow am glad that the new young pairing of Xie Zhongbo Zhang Yawen is closing on their seniors Zhang Jun and Gao Ling. Zhang Yawen in particular, is maybe at 90% the level of Gao Ling already. she is fast and lethal at the net. however, in order to become as good or even surpass Gao Ling, ZhangYW needs to work on her fine touches and add more deceptive shots. she has the mental will and fighting spirit, now the skills needs to catch up. Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Jun have similar offensive ability, both have some thundering smash. it was interesting that XieZB was as penetrating as ZhangJ, but ZhangJ seems to able to induce more fear in their opponent. i think this maybe because XieZB's smashes are more predictable. Xie also needs to work on his consistency and able to balance his string of power output so he doesn't momentarily run out of steam and make stupid mistakes.
after watching the video, yes, i agree with u, it's like he didn't take the game seriously. Actually I was so curious why he lost so easily (from the score), now i know that he was not 100% for whatever reasons.
Chen Hong smashed all three sets long in the matches against Lin Dan and Park Sunghwan. But against Chen Jin he didn't jumpsmash. Li Yongbo was in a training facility in order to see his son playing against Li Yu. One of the coaches told me that Chen Hong didn't play really. But it is not because Chen Hong was told to do that. It is rather that Chen Hong wanted to concentrate on the AE. Park Sunghwan called Chen Hong a Non-Human-Being, mentioning that he never saw a player who can jumpsmash all three sets long. The match against Lin Dan was incredible. I had the feeling that Lin Dan would win. But Chen hong showed all his ability and mobilised all his strength to win against Lin Dan.
Chen Hong had everything to lose and nothing to gain from winning. If he won, it is only a two star, but the young CJ would have worked very hard, as he knows it is his first win, and no pressure to go far next week. CH will have pressure to go far next week. If he loses in QF or even SF he will be disappointed. What was important was that he showed he is in good condition by beating the good players esp. Lin, which is good Psychologically when he faces Gade/LCW/Shon/Lin in AE. Go Chen In AE! Looking forward to seeing CJ though, seeing if any improvement in LCW, and the "New" XD,WS,MD pairs in action. Only 2 days to go!
what did CH have to lose? I think he lost more dignity, integrity and respect losing to CJ. Why would CH even play the tournament if he wasn't going to play his hardest throughout? He has more than 72 hours recovery which should be plenty. I don't get it.
Please note my second paragraph. He has a psychological boost to himself for self confidence (of which he has admitted he lacks in interviews) and against others who know he is on form. Also he hasn't wasted mental energy focussing on winning.
