Sigit/Trikus lost Sigit/Trikus lost tamely in 2 sets to the Korean pair. Sigit looke like he was still asleep and never got going. Very dissapointing. So it looks like a Malaysian and Korean final. Koreans will definitely want to avenge Kim/Ha's defeat to the Malaysian pair. As for the Mens singles between Xia and Boonsak, I think Xia underestimated Boonsak. Xia was toying around a lot. in the final score with The score 12-11 to Boonsak and serving, he flicked serve and caught Xia out. Xia moved and then asked for a let. In an earlier point, Boonsak had already scored directly from a flicked serve. Xia complained then that it was a fault serve. At first the umpire awarded the point to Boonsak making it 13-11. But after complains from Xia he reversed the point and called a let. Then it was Boonsak's turn to complain and he asked for the referee. After consultation with the referee, the umpire called a correction and awarded the point finally to Boonsak. From then I think Xia just lost it. It was a good game though which makes the Final even much more interesting.
WD Results WD will be an all Chinese affair, Gao/Huang vs Yang/Zhang. Semifinal between Yang/Zhang and Ra/Lee was pretty good with some very long rallies. The Koreans just ran out steam finally especially Ra. The Chinese girls just kept on attacking Lee at one stage leaving Ra as a bystander.
Coincidently, Boonsak and Lee/Yoo pair had also entered the final of HK Open 2002, even though it was just a 1 star event.
Re: Re: audina - zhang ning Zhang Ning made a few errors herself in the 1st game but she performed more stable in the 2nd game. In addition, Audina seemed slow down a bit after kept losing a few marks. Zhang is definitely the best women singles player nowadays. No other player even comes close imo. Of course, there are many other reasons which can affect the result of a match.
Yang/Zhang vs. Ra/Lee. interesting that Yang/Zhang played till Ra ran out of steam. sounds like the same thing happened during the 2001 WC when Ra/Lee was playing against Yang/Huang in the semi-final, they pulled the game into a 2 hours affair which completely drained the energy of Ra for the rest of the tournament. at the end, while Ra/Lee went into the final, Ra was so exhausted she lost the WD final as well as losing the MX final to Zhang/Gao. i wonder how she'll do tomorrow.
Re: WD Results From what I saw in these few days, I found that women doubles players from China are becoming more offensive. It is not a characteristic on a sinlge pair, but applicable to all 3 pairs. With regarding the match b/w Ra/Lee vs Yang/Zei, I found that the Korean pair had difficultly to defense - they kept lift the shuttles and end-up made an error. They just can't do something to change this. Perhaps they were exhausted.
I must admit that im very surprised to see the young Boonsak Polsana in the MS final. How does he play, offensive or a defensive player? im glad to see that someone from other countries than China,Korea,Indonesia,Malaysia and Denmark can make it that far and show us great play in MS. Hopes he will win tomorrow, what a great succes it could be for badminton in Thailand. But persononally i think Lin Dan is to strong, maybe the strongest chinese MS player right now. Who will win the other catagories? heres my opinion MS-Lin Dan WS-Zhang ning MD-Lee and Yo WD-Chinese MX-Kim and Ra GO Polsana
Lee is just too small. while she has good skills and enthusiasm, i think she is lacking height and power. the Chinese girls are picked to be powerful. look at all of them, Yang / Zhang / Gao / Huang (esp) / Wei / Zhao are all capable of launching some amazing cannon balls to the other side of the court. on the Korean side, Ra is tall and also powerful, but still fall short of the Chinese. Ra however, excel at being a smart player witih deceptive placement of shots and very very good awareness of what is going on in the court. that ability is also seen in the Chinese in the form of ZhangJW and GaoL, but Ra is a bit ahead of both of them. on top of all those, Ra is slowly getting to the late 20s while the Chinese girls are still in their early 20s. so at the end, with the deficit of some offensive power, they will end up having to defend. unfortunately, with the retirement of Ra and Kim, we will see the end of a great era for Korean badminton.
Boonsak is a defensive player. i am not sure how much he has changed recently, but the last time i watch him play was during one of the Asian Cup. it was quite funny as he has almost no ability to smash. whenever he tried to be offensive, he will either smash it into the net or out. even the commentators pointed that out. he'd much prefer to drop and clear and stay on the defense. so you will see a early career GongZC type of game. can anyone comment on his game nowadays?
He is still a defensive player nowadays, but he 'can' smash now, even though he seldomly did so (but he did smash a few times today which passed the net and in). However, his smash is still not as powerful as those offensive player such as Xia, Chen, etc. Your observation is correct. For example, in today's games, he almost never returned a high serve with smash, but always with drop or clear.
Slight Correction. In the 2001 WC, Ra/Lee defeated Yang/Huang in that 2 hour affair during the Quarter Finals, and not the Semi finals. Ra/Lee than lost to Wei Yili/Zhang Jiewan in the Semi finals. It was Wie/Zhang who played Gao Ling/Huang Sui in the Women Double's final during the 2001 WC.
Re: Re: Re: audina - zhang ning I agree, she is just awesome now. I wonder how long she can maintain this run of form. It's incredible to see her play.
Men's doubles So a M'sia vs Korea final. It will explosive, especially after Ha's red card in the q/f. Hope the M'sians can get going. the s/final betwee Lee/Choong vs Eriksen/Lundgaard was a patchy affair. Not as good or tense as the q/f vs Korea. Be ready to hear shouting! Maybe some M'sians can strategically position themselves around the arena for "surround effect" cheering. Maybe even 7.1
Oh thx Sandy for the mix results!! 2 bad the chinese pair lost 2 their biggest rivals again and in 2 straight sets!! anybody knows if Lin Dan won his game?? Really enjoy watch this chinese young gun playing his games!! Itz going to be a remarkable match since his opponent play a defensive game...
