What a fortnight it has been for Team INA and the fans (including me, Hau-Ge and many others watching on TV). The World Champions in MD and XD: Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan and Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir eventually managed to win a Super Series title and they ended the season in style, winning back-to-back titles in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, beating some of their most feared opponents enroute to the titles. Let's start with Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir. Yes, I personally think that this partnership is not perfect, but after looking at so many matches over the past few years, I realised that ALL XD pairs have their weaklinks after all It's a matter of who performed better on the courts in the crucial matches. Nova/Butet have been in indifferent form since their World Championships title in August this year, losing in early rounds of the Denmark Open to Sudket/Saralee, losing twice to Laybourn/Rytter-Juhl in the Chinese-Taipei and French Opens, and losing in the Japan Open Final to Zheng Bo/Gao Ling. They seem to have been overshadowed by their team mates, Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa, who have won two Super Series titles in Singapore and Paris and another GP Gold title in Taipei. The roads to the titles were not easy either and they managed to clear all the tough hurdles being presented to them in the past 2 weeks! They have beaten the World No 1 (Zheng Bo/Gao Ling in the Hong Kong Open Final), World No 3 (Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa, twice in the China and Hong Kong Opens), World No 5 (Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms in the China Open Semi-Final), World No 7 (Thomas Laybourn/Kamilla Rytter-Juhl in the Hong Kong Open Quarter-Final), and World No 8 (Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam in the China Open Final). That's 5 of the top 8 pairs (which include themselves)! Today's match against their nemesis, the World No 1 Zheng Bo/Gao Ling was filled with nail-biting moments. The scores were tight from the start and both pairs made many errors. The INA pair was quick to establish a 4 points advantage at 11-7 at the interval of the first set, but was levelled at 12-12. Then, the INA pair surged ahead again at 14-14 to find themselves holding 4 game points at 20-16, only for the serve to change hands to the Chinese pair, and Gao Ling's serves rattled the INA pair Zheng/Gao eventually managed to level it at 20-20 and even had a game point at 21-21. The first game point was saved by the INA pair, but, Nova made a crucial service error (at least 3-4 times this set in the less favoured court) and that resulted in another game point for the Chinese pair. They did not let slip of this advantage and finished the first set off 23-21 :crying: The pattern pretty much similar in the second set as the INA pair always found themselves leading a few points only for the Chinese pair to level it at 7-7, 8-8 and then 18-18 in the crucial stage. Luckily for Nova/Butet, they did not let Zheng/Gao win anymore points as they took the second set 21-18. In the rubber-set, it was the Chinese pair who had the early advantage at 6-3 and then 8-6. Nova/Butet did not give up and turned the situation into a slender lead at 11-9. Now, they switched to the more favoured court and continued to maintain the 2-points lead at 16-14 and then 19-17. The Chinese pair again levelled it at 19-19 to make it a real tense affair for the supporters of both teams. Eventually, the INA pair pulled it off with the final 2 points of the match. Nova/Butet won in three tight sets 20-22, 21-18, 21-19. Congrats!
CORRECTION: Tony/Candra is not a Pelatnas pair, so, no coach. Sigit Pamungkas is a nice guy He has certainly helped Kido/Hendra become a better pair this year.
Interestingly, Nova made this comment too during the dinner....won at the same time...losing also at the same time
No wonder the "wave" I try to stir only few inches high!!! Lee Chong Wei had done his part, Lin Dan simply was a better player on that day. It's kind of scary now that the big 3 from China are all playing so well and only Lee Chong Wei can "kungfu" with them, is about time some other players step in to help else if the big 3 all qualify for Olympic then MS title will belong to China.
i'm still replaying the md final video...... mk/hs is not just a smashing machine like samuel882 said.. they're also dynamic and a tactical player
If they do not know about tactics, they would not have blown away the Chinese pair so easily yesterday
taufik-ist, where do you watch the video replay? I missed the MD finals.. but glad to hear MK/HS won it..
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=f...8086 c042d07d or http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=742705&postcount=45
The tactical part were demonstrated during WC 07 when they played CTF/LWW in Semis. changed strategy midway thru Game 2. But like what Badmania says, they always seem to lose confidence when playing KKK/TBH (or Rexy found the way the beat them & KKK/TBH perfected it), so we didnt get to see much of their prowness lately. Anyway, with this win, they'll be World no 1 again next week.
Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan HAVE WON 4 titles this year, including a World Championships, 2 back-to-back Super Series, and 1 GP Gold titles. The number is the same as Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun (4 Super Series titles) and still inferior to Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong (4 Super Series and 2 GP Gold titles), arguably their 2 most feared opponents in the past 2 years. Many people are still yet to be convinced that they are a WORTHY WORLD CHAMPION. I hope Kido/Hendra's successful defense of BOTH the China and Hong Kong Opens titles will have silenced the critics They have an almost flawless record in Greater China region in the past 2 years, losing only 2 matches: both to Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun (1 in the inconsequential Group stage of the Invitational World Cup 2006 which Kido/Hendra eventually won and the other one was in the controversial China Masters Final in Chengdu this year). Nevertheless, they show that they can also beat the pair which is regarded as the most consistent pair in recent years, Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun, TWICE in straight sets! In both matches, Fu/Cai were made to play so uncomfortably and become so frustrated at the end that they were not unable to play their normal game In the past two weeks, Kido/Hendra have beaten the World No 2 (Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun in the Hong Kong Open Semi-Final), World No 6 (Tony Gunawan/Candra Wijaya in the Hong Kong Open Final), World No 7 (Jens Eriksen/Martin Lundgaard Hansen in the China Open Quarter-Final), World No 9 (Guo Zhendong/Xie Zhongbo in the China Open Final), World No 12 (Tadashi Ohtsuka/Keita Masuda in the Hong Kong Open Quarter-Final). Today's match against Tony/Candra was a match of two halves. In the first set, Kido/Hendra was the dominant pair from the beginning and they led 11-6 at the interval as they were in the favoured court. The gap increased from 5 to 10 points at 19-10 as the veteran pair could not cope with Kido/Hendra's strategy. Kido/Hendra eventually won the set 21-12. Once they changed courts, the problems which we saw in Nova/Butet's earlier match started to appear in Kido/Hendra. Tony/Candra gained more confidence as the match wore on. Meanwhile, Hendra started to make a number of uncharacteristics errors, such as serving to the net (like Nova).Kido/Hendra were never leading in the second set, only managing to level the scores at 8-8 before Tony/Candra find their rhtym and extend their lead to 15-10. The younger pair staged a mini-comeback to narrow the gap to 16-18, but, it was not enough and Tony/Candra managed to force a rubber-game. Knowing that they have to win as many points as possible as they were once again in the favoured court, Kido/Hendra attacked their seniors relentlessly and had a pretty comfortabe 11-6 lead at the interval. Back to the less favoured court, they played more cautiously and eventually they were not troubled at all. Kido/Hendra won the rubber-set 21-13. So, overall, it's a perfect fortnight for fans of Kido/Hendra, being able to defend their titles against all odds and showing to the others that they are one of the strong contender for the Gold Medal in the Beijing Olympics 2008. The good record in China will further help their cause
hendra, hendra!!! congratulations!!! and to you too, markis!!! just came home and checked the restults.. happy!!!
Yup....I am a happy man too They HAVE ACHIEVED HALF of their target of sweeping (SAPU BERSIH!) the tourneys they are going to be involved in. Two DOWN, two TO GO (the Gold Medals for SEA Games TEAM and INDIVIDUAL Events).
hope they can win sea games team and individual events too.. hey, did you say they were going to thailand tomorrow already???
I don't think soo Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong WILL REMAIN as World No 1 with 77714 points. Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan WILL REPLACE Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun as World No 2 with 77489 points. Fu/Cai themselves will have 77213 points.
A slight change in plan: they will return back to Jakarta tomorrow, then fly to Bangkok on Wednesday night. They were originally scheduled to depart on Tuesday So, now, they have two nights of rest at home....
