Malaysia Open Grand Final

[cooler]

You also have to conceed the fact that LCW was at home and had the crowd support and its much easier to be upbeat and strong mentally when you have cheers and not moans and boos. LD was visably shaken after some calls that went against him but if he were at home the home crowd would cheer him on and lift his spirit. Its all mental at this high level where most players have the skills and it is their focus and mentality that determines outcomes but LD has proven he can win not only on home soil but also numerous other stadiums. If the chinese were so weak mentally then why is the tour dominated by the chinese? I just feel when the chinese win people go "Oh no not another all chinese final" or "ah another typical chinese victory" but when they lose its a mariad of errors on their part. I'm as biased as the next guy but sports is sports and sometimes you have to conceed the fact that sometimes people just plain got outplayed and thats how I view most wins and loses. The other person/team was just better that day. For me more credit goes to the victor than does to the loser for choking.

I've said the chinese are 'generally' weaker on the mental side, some more, some less so. It's a broad personal opinioin of mine which i've kept because of abundant supporting observation. Also, zhang ning is now a veteran which make LD a newbie in the mental dept. It just mean the chinese needed more touranment experience to groom their mental toughness. I'm sure next year LD would be far more mentally stronger than this year(2005), which is better than last year (2004).

You said:

If the chinese were so weak mentally then why is the tour dominated by the chinese?

My answer is straight and firm, it's because the chinese is also excellent in the speed, footwork, stroke making and other skills. When zhang ning playing against hari, ZN could might have been daydreaming (about her wedding and honeymoon, hehe) and ZN could still beat hari imo LOL. Only when other physical components are evenly matched, the deciding factor will be mental, which i have also stated before. Both LD and LCW are fast and attacking players, neither one own the speed department. The winning edge here was mental focus and toughness, which LCW has 2 things going for him .

 

[cooler]

more pics..................

 

[belfastnole2]

Isn't it reported already that Taufik has a muscule injury in his rib before the game? It's only a month from WC. I was surprised he didn't quit and continue to finish the match. I think he will skip some tournments in between to recover.

no world ranking tournaments between now and WC

 

[tutu_h]

no world ranking tournaments between now and WC

there is one more, the MVP cup in philiphine begins on 17.07.2005. see here
http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24394

but there won't be any point accumulated for the world ranking.

 

[nugroho]

Lee Chong Wei is now rank No $ in the world. Just slightly behind Peter Gade. His point is 25575.32 + 42000 = 29775.32 . Go chong wei . I will pray for u to win the world championship.

according to the IBF rank list LCW has 22.680 and plus 4.200 today he will got 26.880
nut dont forget that has also incraese their point and even peter gade as well.. so...? let see what will be the list looks like

 

[wanalexwan]

according to the IBF rank list LCW has 22.680 and plus 4.200 today he will got 26.880
nut dont forget that has also incraese their point and even peter gade as well.. so...? let see what will be the list looks like

not to forgot the delete the points for last year's tournament

 

[KourKK]

I think people here on the forum should just applaud Lee Chong Wei for defending and retaining his crown, rather than complaining about home support etc etc. You might say im saying this only because im malaysian and loyal to my country. But if Taufik or Gade or Jonassen or Bao won agaisnt Lin Dan, i would have applauded them anyway.

So maybe we should stop taking things away from Lee Chong Wei's Win, because no matter how 'partial' the line calls were, im sure that they were made in all fairness, as you guys have said, how many of us can actually make correct line calls in the heat of the moment? (if it was us there) So we should congratulate LeeCW, for his first win against Lin Dan, and for retaining his crown, and for a great game of Badminton

 

[streamyx]

Chong Wei Outlasts Lin Dan

[size=+2]Chong Wei outlasts Lin Dan to retain Malaysian Open crown[/size]

BY RAJES PAUL



KUALA LUMPUR: National number one Lee Chong Wei fell on his back; punched his fists repeatedly in the air; and blew kisses to the badminton fans at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton (KLBA) Stadium yesterday.

The pumped up Chong Wei had given an outstanding display to successfully defend the Proton Malaysian Open men's singles title.

He took 88 minutes to beat world number one Lin Dan of China 17-15, 9- 15, 15-9 in a power-packed final. And he certainly felt on top of the world.

“I am very, very happy,” said Chong Wei, who bagged US$9,600 (RM36,480) for the win.

“Winning the Malaysian Open title for the second time is certainly different. I never thought that I would clear even the quarter-finals.

“But here I am today ... I defeated Taufik (Hidayat) and Lin Dan for the first time in the same tournament.”

On Thursday, Chong Wei put up a brilliant show to beat Athens Olympics gold medallist and Singapore Open champion Taufik 15-5, 15-0 in the third round.

With the win yesterday, Chong Wei has avenged his defeats by Lin Dan and Taufik.

He was beaten by the Chinese in the Thomas Cup qualifying tournament and went down to Taufik in the second round of the Asian Badminton Championships last year at the same venue.

It was Chong Wei’s delicate play, tight net shots and several great fightbacks that won the hearts of the crowd. He clawed back from 0-7 down in both the first and rubber games to win them.

The world number eight is nowlooking forward to the World Championships, which will be played in Anaheim, California, next month with optimism.

“I never gave up when the chips were down against Lin Dan,” said Chong Wei.

“Everyone saw how he played. He is excellent in attack and his overhead smashes and forehand cross court shots are dangerous. So it is very satisfying to beat him.

“This has given me a lot of confidence. I have one month to prepare for the world championships. I will be more than happy to bring back a medal for Malaysia.”

Lin Dan, who was playing in his first Malaysian Open final, was certainly disappointed and dashed out of the stadium after receiving the US$4,800 cheque.

Malaysia's singles coach Li Mao of China was happy with Chong Wei's performances in the tournament.

“It was a very high quality game but Chong Wei held a slight advantage because he read Lin Dan's game well and it was his home turf and the crowd was behind him all the way,” said Li Mao. “In his win over Taufik, he displayed good skill and yesterday against Lin Dan, I was happy with his speed. Overall, it is Chong Wei’s spirited game that helped him win the title today.”

On Chong Wei's preparation for the world championships, Li Mao said: “He is now a world-class player. Yes, he will be one of the contenders together with Taufik and Lin Dan at the world championships.”

There were also disappointments for China in the men's doubles and mixed doubles events. Indonesia's Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto certainly proved that they are on the right track to win the world title for the second time. The 1997 world champions defeated Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng 15-11, 17- 14.

In the mixed doubles, Koreans Lee Jae-jin-Lee Hyo-jung downed Chen Qiqiu-Zhao Tingting 15-12, 15-12. The all-China finals in the women's singles and women's doubles were won by their Olympic champions – Zhang Ning and the pair of Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen

 

[cooler]

I think people here on the forum should just applaud Lee Chong Wei for defending and retaining his crown, rather than complaining about home support etc etc. You might say im saying this only because im malaysian and loyal to my country. But if Taufik or Gade or Jonassen or Bao won agaisnt Lin Dan, i would have applauded them anyway.

So maybe we should stop taking things away from Lee Chong Wei's Win, because no matter how 'partial' the line calls were, im sure that they were made in all fairness, as you guys have said, how many of us can actually make correct line calls in the heat of the moment? (if it was us there) So we should congratulate LeeCW, for his first win against Lin Dan, and for retaining his crown, and for a great game of Badminton

I wasnt whining at LD lost I was just continuing my preaching about the vaious skill importance If LCW continue with this energy and focus, i hope he wins the WC MS title too.

btw, do i sound like Li Mao?Puahahaha

Li Mao
“It was a very high quality game but Chong Wei held a slight advantage because he read Lin Dan's game well and it was his home turf and the crowd was behind him all the way,” said Li Mao. “In his win over Taufik, he displayed good skill and yesterday against Lin Dan, I was happy with his speed. Overall, it is Chong Wei’s spirited game that helped him win the title today.”

Me
Both LD and LCW are fast and attacking players, neither one own the speed department. The winning edge here was mental focus and toughness, which LCW has 2 things going for him. 1. LCW inheritance mental advantage over LD 2. Extra positive home crowd energy to LCW.

 

[hcyong]

not to forgot the delete the points for last year's tournament

The points for last year's Malaysia Open were already taken out. That's why his ranking dropped to 8. Anyway, I think he will stay within the 5-8 ranking bracket. The good news if you are in that bracket, is that you cannot possibly meet Taufik before the semifinals (if Taufik is also in the 5-8 bracket)

 

[h2005]

Any video on the final?

Please please...video of MS, MD please . DVD will do.

 

[event]

and almost same height too.

tutu_h,

Where do you get this idea that their height is similar?

This Athens list has LCW at 172cm:

http://www.athens2004.com/en/ParticipantBiography?pid=368031&rsc=BDM001000

...while Lin Dan is 178cm according to the IBF.

To put it another way, isn't LCW the shortest men's singles player in the top 20? let me answer my own question. Shoji Sato is apparently only 167cm and Agus Hariyanto is listed at 170. LCW has to be 3rd, though. Remember, you can't count the hair, even though Lin Dan has a comparable lid.

 

[y0ng]

Hi, anyone in Singapore record down today match?
Hope can borrom from you... too bad for me did not apply SCV..
PM me.. thx in advance...

I have it on DVD format. If you want, I could copy it and give it to you for free, but you have to come to my home to take it. PM me if you want.

 

[sunzhi]

The line call happened in game two only...and it won by Lin Dan,Third game
Lin Dan have a good start and lead my 8-1 b4 Change court,it was Lin Dan
sudden change of play that course him,he seems to be under presure
when LCW catch-up so much...This type of presure if cannot block will
course you fatal.This was what happened,the sudden drop of "Form"
also the major course,no the line call...it is the redeculous excuse.
I am a Singaporean and i watch the game live by pay-tv.Nothing Bias,
i report only the truth.Lee Chong Wei playing a very-very skillful game
tonight.

not true, the bad call was first noticed in the later part of game 1, if i am not wrong when lee was serving at 12-12 hence giving him the 13 mark. lin dan didn't lead at 8-1 before changing end, he was leading at 7-1 and then a bad line call when lee was serving. it somehow affected lin's momentum and lee started catching up and gained few straight points. well, bad calls happen everywhere and that is one of the advantage of playing at home...

i must agree that this is no excuse for blaming his lost. lin could (and should) hv wrapped the match in straight games, easily. no offense but look, lin started really well and was in total command and dictating lee who looked amateur. but so typical of lin, when he was in comfortable lead in game 1, he changed his pace and tried fancy shots and plays. no more aggressive attacks but start lifting... lee's lethal weapon is his quick and powerful smash and when he started getting points, confidence built up.. honestly, lin only had himself to blame for the lost. well, i know i am not in the position to evaluate his play, just my 2 cts and....

 

[event]

I dont reckon its fair to blame line judges/home support etc etc for a player losing... Maybe we should be like Taufik, and accept defeat Gracefully, and not be a sore loser,

"Taufik, who was affected by a stomach muscle pull during his game against Chong Wei, was disappointed but he did not show it.

“I do not want to give any excuses ... I lost,” said the soft-spoken player. "
source : The Star

This is ironic. As Newplayer pointed out in posting #387 to this thread, Taufik once walked off the court in Korea because of line calls. In fact, this was at the Asian Games in Busan in 2002. He walked off for ONE HOUR!! Not only did they not declare a forfeit, but they replaced the linespeople with international umpires who were waiting to umpire other games. Taufik still lost. He did win the individual singles gold in another final against a Korean player but again they didn't use Korean linespeople.

Some of the line calls in question were terrible. Two inches out and called in. About the telecast, one thing I noticed was that they didn't replay the point that caused Taufik to walk off. I've noticed a pattern of this at Korean tournaments. There seem to be a lot of calls that favour Korean athletes - Ng Wei vs. Ahn Hyun-suk at this year's Open was one example - and a lot of the questionable ones aren't replayed on TV. I might just be imagining this, however. I can't claim to have done a controlled experiment. They do have cameras trained only on the back line at the Korean tournaments and do a lot of replays. I didn't see any useful replays on the Chinese broadcast that made it to PPLive. They didn't seem to have any dedicated cameras for that purpose. They just had action cameras that often missed the contact point.

I agree that LCW seemed to benefit from bad calls at crucial times in the 1st and second games and it's no secret that he had nothing to complain about in terms of calls against him. It is also true that Lin Dan complained about some calls that seemed to have been clearly correct. Either way, I think that some players in some tournaments react better mentally than Lin Dan did yesterday but I don't know if that's a habit with him. The only thing that is clear is that Taufik is not the example to follow in this respect.

It's a shame that lines require so many people that using only international staff is impossible. There is always a third country umpire but the umpire has next to no influence on the point decisions. Extra contact with the shuttle is relatively rare as are net violations. The vast majority of decisions that can reflect game outcomes are made by local amateurs. Oh well, I guess that's one advantage to the biggest tournaments - Olympics, All England, Worlds - almost always ending up in places with few if any contenders. I mean since '92 the only exceptions have been the WC in Denmark in '99 and the handful of times that England has had contenders in Birmingham for the WC and AE. Okay, I guess the team competitions totally complicate that argument, don't they. I keep forgetting how important they are.

 

[sunzhi]

I think LCW was overall a better player... his net shot is tighter compared to Lin Dan and his crosscourt smash is supreme... he could have wraped it up easily in the 2nd game, however its so typical of him to let his guard down and try all the unecessary fancy net shot, thats why he has to stretched for rubber set...

Although a few line calls were strange... but as a professional and mature player, they shouldn't complain about it.... I thought it was very immature of Lin to temper with the umpire and has to drag his coach out of the seat to assess the situation...

agree with you that lin should have wrapped up the match with ease had he not change his game. i dont agree a professional player shouldnt complain if there are plenty of bad calls. lin did raise the issue with the umpire but he didnt make a scene outta it like taufik hidayat did in bushan asian games. but you know what, taufik who walked off court for more thn an hour in protest, at least proved his points and the linesmen were changed. in all fairness, biased line judges shd nt be tolerated.

 

[streamyx]

This is ironic. As Newplayer pointed out in posting #387 to this thread, Taufik once walked off the court in Korea because of line calls. In fact, this was at the Asian Games in Busan in 2002. He walked off for ONE HOUR!! Not only did they not declare a forfeit, but they replaced the linespeople with international umpires who were waiting to umpire other games. Taufik still lost. He did win the individual singles gold in another final against a Korean player but again they didn't use Korean linespeople.

Some of the line calls in question were terrible. Two inches out and called in. About the telecast, one thing I noticed was that they didn't replay the point that caused Taufik to walk off. I've noticed a pattern of this at Korean tournaments. There seem to be a lot of calls that favour Korean athletes - Ng Wei vs. Ahn Hyun-suk at this year's Open was one example - and a lot of the questionable ones aren't replayed on TV. I might just be imagining this, however. I can't claim to have done a controlled experiment. They do have cameras trained only on the back line at the Korean tournaments and do a lot of replays. I didn't see any useful replays on the Chinese broadcast that made it to PPLive. They didn't seem to have any dedicated cameras for that purpose. They just had action cameras that often missed the contact point.

I agree that LCW seemed to benefit from bad calls at crucial times in the 1st and second games and it's no secret that he had nothing to complain about in terms of calls against him. It is also true that Lin Dan complained about some calls that seemed to have been clearly correct. Either way, I think that some players in some tournaments react better mentally than Lin Dan did yesterday but I don't know if that's a habit with him. The only thing that is clear is that Taufik is not the example to follow in this respect.

It's a shame that lines require so many people that using only international staff is impossible. There is always a third country umpire but the umpire has next to no influence on the point decisions. Extra contact with the shuttle is relatively rare as are net violations. The vast majority of decisions that can reflect game outcomes are made by local amateurs. Oh well, I guess that's one advantage to the biggest tournaments - Olympics, All England, Worlds - almost always ending up in places with few if any contenders. I mean since '92 the only exceptions have been the WC in Denmark in '99 and the handful of times that England has had contenders in Birmingham for the WC and AE. Okay, I guess the team competitions totally complicate that argument, don't they. I keep forgetting how important they are.

Pls lah.. u people... those who comment about the "bad" line call. Did u all actually watch the live play?? LCW really play a high skill game, and u can see Lin Dan is running all around the court to return the shuttle. Even he dives several time to save the shuttle. Not counting number of times Lin Dan unable to guess or been fool from the pace and shuttle sended by LCW. Include tight and skillfull net shoot. What is all this?? U call this a bad line call?? huh?
So, if u people still insist that Lin Dan lost is due to bad line call. And If Lin does not think that his defect yesterday is to a better player.Then i can really said, Lin Dan is going to loss more. Because LCW had improve a lot and now he is one of a world class player.

 

[weeyet]

My opinion on why Taufik lost so easily to Chong Wei in Malaysia Open is partly due to his ambition in the WC. Coaches and players always have their own strategy and plan. Everytime you play at your best, your "secret weapon" or "killing weapon" will be studied by opponents, and your opponents will be getting more and more clearly to your style, they will absorb and try finding reaction ways for your tactics and skills. When Chong Wei defeated Hyun-il in last edition of MO(forgot which year?? or is it MO), HI was stunned by Chong Wei wrist skills.

Just my 2 cent

 

[sunzhi]

You are absolutely right.The line call were all made in fairness.If there any bad calls at all,it wasn't called to give lcw an unfair advantage.On the other hand lin was trying to be the linesman.His cockiness is one of the reason he lost to lcw.But there are so many good points why lcw wins tonight.He fought as hard as he could.He refused to give when he was trailing.He has good skills.In fact everyone should be proud of this young talent from Malaysian for cracking the Great Wall of China.It's good for badminton.Nobody can be invicible all the time.When you lose,lose sportingly.

like TOP-ACE, i ws also watching it live on pay tv and hs no relation with china or m'sia, hence making my comment from what i saw.. from the replays (kudos to the local tv crew for not cutting those bad calls like the korean did), there were couples of really bad judgements went against lin dan, some were really obvious.

 

[hcyong]

agree with you that lin should have wrapped up the match with ease had he not change his game. i dont agree a professional player shouldnt complain if there are plenty of bad calls. lin did raise the issue with the umpire but he didnt make a scene outta it like taufik hidayat did in bushan asian games. but you know what, taufik who walked off court for more thn an hour in protest, at least proved his points and the linesmen were changed. in all fairness, biased line judges shd nt be tolerated.

There were no cameras trained to the lines. What I judge myself from the live telecast was
1. A smash by Lin Dan that hit the line that was judged out.
2. A drop from Lee CW that was let go by Lin Dan, I thought it landed in, the linesman said in, Lin Dan protested, umpire said she saw it herself as the shot landed right in front of her.

Both players had to target the lines, as it looked like it was the only way to win. A lot of out shots from both players were very marginal. It should not be surprising that some shots may be deemed just out by the player and just in by the linejudge, and vice versa. Linejudging is analogous, not digital, as in there exist a grey area, no matter how small.

The way some players play is to vent out their frustration on the linejudge. Even in the MD match (in which the linejudges have no reason to be bias), there were several complaints from the Chinese pair. I think they were warned once by the umpire. It is not surprising. In many tense matches, you see players at least glaring, or showing some disgust, at the linesjudge. Not only in badminton. On the other hand, some players would totally ignore the calls, just take the judgement and carry on. It depends on their style, I guess.