Good news, the top Koreans are back!! At least as a scratch pair! The draw can be summarized as below: Quarter 1 - Chan/Chew are doomed for another embarassment in front of their home crowds. Their 1st round opponents will be Korean no.3, Kim/Yim. If they pull thru, their next opponents will be in the form of newly crowned world champions, Lars/Jonas. Winners from the last 16 showdown will play 5th seeded, Cai/Fu. Quarter 2 - Third-seeded, Pramote/Tesana are drawn to meet Sang/Zheng in last 16. Winner should play Trikus/Sigit in last 8. Quarter 3 - Kim DM and Lee DS are pairing-up for this championship. Should edge Danes, Boe/Lamp for a place in semis. Quarter 4 - The most exciting quarter. Two possible exciting last 16 clash are: Flandi/Eng Hian vs Chandra/Halim Choong/Lee vs Cheng Rui/Chen Qiqiu My pick for the semis: Lars/Jonas vs Sang/Zheng Kim DM/Lee DS vs Chandra/Halim
Now, we are at the semis stage. My earlier predictions have all gone wrong, except for Kim/Lee. However, the line-ups are equally exciting. Cai/Fu vs Sigit/Trikus Kim/Lee vs Choong/Lee I think Cai/Fu should advance to final, having beaten the world champions despite losing the first set 15-0!! It is the third consecutive semis for Choong/Lee. Playing the Korean pair (though a scratch pair, but equally potent as with their original partners) will be an acid test for them, but that does not mean that they do not have a chance. Good luck, Malaysia!!
No shame to go out to a good pair. Just off the top of my head, I can remember HA/Kim being beaten by Chan/Chew in the 1st round of a previous M'sian Open, Eng/Flandy going out in the 1st round of WC and Choong/Lee beating Ha/Kim in the 1st round of a Singaporean Open........Just goes to show, even the strongest pairs have their ups and downs.
Good luck to Fu/Cai in tomorrow's final against the "scratch" Korean pairing. It should be a very good battle, with experienced defensive pair against youthful, energetic young gunz. If Fu/Cai do win, then it will be back to back victories for Chinese in MD. Too bad Sang/Zheng went out in first round here.
Well, the Koreans just showed again that they are the top MD team in the world. With the Indo split they may not have too much obstacles in front of them if all their top MD players were healthy. The Korean MD certainly showed theirflexibility when their "pick-up" pair wins a major GP. Now Fu/Cai and Sang/Zheng have gotta pick it up a little. At least they are still quite young and have a lot of time left.
Kim/Lee beat Cai/Fu 17-15, 15-11. So both games were quite close. It probably could have gone either way.
The 2 Chinese MD teams are doing very well for now. Coming from relatively obscurity to frequent later stages of any tournament in less than 2 yaers is no mean feat. If they continue to make the progress they have shown, then there's hope in Thomas Cup.
