Leading contenders Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms (WR #1) Zhang Jun/Gao Ling (WR #5) Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min (WR #9) Besides two minor tournaments at the beginning of 2004 and the European title, Robertson/Emms did not win anything else. They came agonizingly close in Athens. Kim/Ra started the year well, winning every tournament they entered until they stumbled at the Olympics, which more than negate every good thing they have done before that. Zhang/Gao may not be as steady as they used to be but they are Olympic champions for the second time. For that, they are the mixed doubles pair of the year. In 2005, watch out for: Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir (WR #25). In their first tournament together, they defeated Zhang/Gao. Then, they took the Singapore title, beating Robertson/Emms on the way. Then, they lost narrowly to Zhang/Gao in their only third and final tournament of the year. On the flip side, Widianto is quite old (born in 1977). However, Natsir is young (1985) and Indonesia never had a problem producing men's doubles players. Anyway, I predict this pair will stamp their mark in 2005. There will be substantial local interest in Saputra/Li and Koo/Wong but I don't think they can break into the elite ranks. Most likely to be pair of the year in 2005: In the Olympic fallout, a new pair will emerge and that is none other than Nova/Lilyana of Indonesia.
zhang/gao hands down, no pairs top them in any category, nathan/gail wasnt impressive, and i am still wondering why they are world #1, but zhang/gao better watch out for nova/liliana in 2005, since they have even record (1-1) this year
Widianto has always been my favourite mixed doubles player. If he have been paired up with Lilyana earlier, wouldn't that be great ?
IBF WORLD RANKINGS Mixed Doubles and competition stats 1 ROBERTSON Nathan (ENG) /EMMS Gail (ENG) Number of individual competitions=9 Number of indivdial points=3048 Number of team competitions 1 Number of team points= 311.4 Total number of competitions=10 Total number of points gained=3359.4 (after divison by by total number of competitions or eight if that number is less than eight) Competitions for last 15 months: 13 Dec 2004 DJARUM INDONESIA OPEN 2004 1/16 15 Nov 2004 AVIVA OPEN SINGAPORE 2004 Semi-Finals 5 Oct 2004 DENMARK OPEN 2004 Gold Medal Final 14 Aug 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES 2004 Gold Medal Final 29 Jun 2004 Proton-Eon MALAYSIA OPEN 2004 Semi-Finals 20 Apr 2004 European Championships 2004 Winner 16 Apr 2004 European Team Championships 2004 TEAM 6 Apr 2004 YONEX OPEN JAPAN 2004 Quarter-Finals 30 Mar 2004 NOONNOPPI KOREA OPEN 2004 Quarter-Finals 9 Mar 2004 YONEX ALL ENGLAND OPEN 2004 1/16 2 Mar 2004 SWISS OPEN 2004 Semi-Finals 4 Feb 2004 OLYMPIC SPORT EVENT 2004 Winner 20 Jan 2004 SIAM CEMENT WGP THAILAND OPEN 2004 Winner 11 Nov 2003 CHINA OPEN 2003 Semi-Finals 30 Sep 2003 YONEX GERMAN OPEN 2003 Quarter-Finals 23 Sep 2003 DENMARK OPEN 2003 Quarter-Finals 5 ZHANG Jun (CHN) / GAO Ling (CHN) Number of individual competitions=7 Number of indivdial points=2535 Number of team competitions 0 Number of team points=0 Total number of competitions=7 Total number of points gained =2535(after divison by by total number of competitions or eight if that number is less than eight) Competitions for last 15 months: 13 Dec 2004 DJARUM INDONESIA OPEN 2004 Winner 15 Nov 2004 AVIVA OPEN SINGAPORE 2004 Quarter-Finals 9 Nov 2004 CHINA OPEN 2004 Quarter-Finals 14 Aug 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES 2004 Winner 29 Jun 2004 Proton-Eon MALAYSIA OPEN 2004 Winner 6 Apr 2004 YONEX OPEN JAPAN 2004 1/32 9 Mar 2004 YONEX ALL ENGLAND OPEN 2004 1/16 2 Mar 2004 SWISS OPEN 2004 Gold Medal Final 11 Nov 2003 CHINA OPEN 2003 Winner 27 Oct 2003 HONG KONG OPEN 2003 Gold Medal Final 30 Sep 2003 YONEX GERMAN OPEN 2003 Gold Medal Final 23 Sep 2003 DENMARK OPEN 2003 Quarter-Finals 9 KIM Dong Moon (KOR) /RA Kyung Min (KOR) 5 2010 0 0 5 2010 Number of individual competitions=95 Number of indivdial points=2010 Number of team competitions=0 Number of team points=0 Total number of competitions=5 Total number of points gained=2010 (after divison by by total number of competitions or eight if that number is less than eight) Competitions for last 15 months: 14 Aug 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES 2004 Quarter-Finals 20 Apr 2004 Asian Championships 2004 Winner 30 Mar 2004 NOONNOPPI KOREA OPEN 2004 Winner 9 Mar 2004 YONEX ALL ENGLAND OPEN 2004 Winner 2 Mar 2004 SWISS OPEN 2004 Winner 4 Nov 2003 CHINESE TAIPEI OPEN 2003 Winner 27 Oct 2003 HONG KONG OPEN 2003 Winner 30 Sep 2003 YONEX GERMAN OPEN 2003 Winner 23 Sep 2003 DENMARK OPEN 2003 Winner Head to Head ROBERTSON Nathan (ENG) /EMMS Gail (ENG) vs ZHANG Jun (CHN) / GAO Ling (CHN) 2-3 ROBERTSON Nathan (ENG) /EMMS Gail (ENG) vs KIM Dong Moon (KOR) /RA Kyung Min (KOR) 0-6 ZHANG Jun (CHN) / GAO Ling (CHN) vs KIM Dong Moon (KOR) /RA Kyung Min (KOR) 3-11
No one doubts that Kim/Ra is the best mixed doubles pair who played this year. But the pair who accomplished the most in 2004 is still Zhang/Gao.
IMHO, The pair that accomplished the most was Zhang Jun and Gao Ling. Winning the Olympics was a masterful feat. Such a pity that Ra Kyung Min never won that Olympic Gold that she wanted. Of course Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min are one of the greatest mixed doubles pairs to ever play the game. It is laudable that Ra retired while still at the top of her game. Very few athletes do that. Robertson and Emms are simply NOT in the same class as the other two pairs. " Nuff said ".
can I just sneak in that I think Emms is not in the same class. I really think Robertson is quite a brilliant player and if he had a partner as good as Gao or Ra who can guess what would happen......
this is a tough one. while Robertson/Emms are up there near the top, they are still a step below Kim/Ra and Zhang/Gao. i will be happy with them sitting on number 3. as for the placement of 1 and 2. it is really a struggle. in terms of pure strength of the pairs as a whole, i truely believe that Kim/Ra are the stronger of the 2. but we are not rating their strength but their performance in 2004. Kim/Ra was undefeatable until the Olympics. then they dropped out of the scene completely. while Zhang/Gao had little to show aside from the Olympics. for me, the Olympics is certainly the most important tournament, but imho one tournament cannot outweigh all the other ones, as a result, i personally will give Kim/Ra the number one spot. with Zhang/Gao a close second.
