Lin Dan can still recover some pride if he beats Jorgensen in Korea Open R1 next week. If he looses that match also I have no hope for him anymore thereafter.
Even the CHN sportsmedia are unusually silent or subdued about Lin Dan's recent debacle, probably stunned. So far I've come across three negative articles on him, one wondered if he's getting old, another stated he is really old now, and a third bluntly said 'Lin Dan, The Invincible' has become 'Lin Dan, the one-round tripper'. OTOH, I counted at least five articles singing the praises of Kento Momota. Frankly, Lin Dan is clearly in dire straits, not even his die-hard fans should be in denial. I believe the only way or hope , a difficult one to do actually in his case, is for him to put in superhuman effort and total dedication as soon as possible, not wait until the start of the Olympic cycle when he would've a lot more ground to catch up if his world ranking were to fall far behind his two compatriots ahead of him. Honestly, I'm not optimistic at all as he's been wavering for far too long that it's become a set bad habit, so to speak.
It didnt look like LD played well but at least he won. I hope he will still play at a decent level in the future and enter the WC next year.
Yeah, in a way but at a much later age. I am certain Lin Dan won't give up yet, he will carry on insofar as he is able until he is forced to admit enough is enough. It's definitely the case of , the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Frankly, I doubt he will qualify for Tokyo 2020, both Shi Yuqi and Chen Long will just keep themselves in front of him in world rankings even if no other CHN MS arises to push him down to 4th place in CHN MS during the Olympic cycle.
Oh c'monTaufik had serious motivation issues. He got a world championship gold, got Olympic gold, married a well to do family.and was financially set before thirty years old. That would kill motivation in a lot of people. Lin Dan has done brilliantly. Who can blame him for motivation problems? Maybe it's time to stop the travelling and be with his kids and his family. One of his best buddies now has a serious illness and it's a sobering thought
True - Taufik did have motivation issues too but his decision to reduce training and match preparation was partly/largely down to managing his injuries and to be able to prolong his ability to compete. I guess what I'm saying is, LD has a choice, he CAN perform better if he wanted to whereas with TH I don't think he really had that choice.
Yes, but was it in some part, attributed to his inability to perform at his best due to managing injuries? Surely that's not fun for any badminton player. TH lingered in that state for a number of years before retiring which kind of suggests he did want to compete.
Didn't Lin Dan have injuries too but managed to come back after altering his training and all? Taufik's problem wasn't just injuries but it was mainly his lifestyle too back then. I heard he used to party all night before his match.. that surely not the best way to perform for a professional athlete.
I really loved TH. But six times Indonesian Open champion, World and Olympic champion and couldn't control and manage himself?
Don't think about badminton Chong Wei, says Lin Dan Speaking to the media in China, the 35-year-old Lin Dan said: "Body health is the first priority. It is not important when you return to the game. "First of all, I wish Chong Wei can recover as soon as possible.''
Slightly baffled by Lin Dan's decision to enter for the SaarLorLux Open (S100) instead of Macau Open (S300) the same week. If he wants to overtake Chen Long, surely he needs to enter into higher-level tournaments (ranking points difference is 1,500). The only reason I can think of is he doesn't want to play against Ng Ka Long (with whom he has a 1-2 losing record) immediately after Denmark and France On second thoughts I'm not sure playing SaarLorLux is even a good idea considering the China Masters and Hong Kong straight after
I think Lin Dan is doing it more as a promotional activity, just like what he did at the New Zealand Open where he's never played before.
Perhaps, but the decision to stretch the Chinese team to two locations at once with Macau (Li Xuerui, Tang Jinhua, Chengkai/Haodong) and SaarLorLux (Lin Dan, He Bingjiao et al) is very strange
Perhaps not that strange as I've noticed for the last six months to a year the tendency to have too many players of the same nationality drawn together in the same quadrant or half of the draw, which defeats the purpose of sending more than four players/pairs to the same tournament. That's just my opinion.
Lin Dan will have harder draw in French Open and in China Masters later on. Momota is waiting in R2 and R1 respectively. Should I expect him to create an upset once at least? He is no1 seed in SaarLorLux Open though, hopefully he can survive physically and win the title there.
