Shi vs Lin coming up in the MS Final. Never seen them play before. Anything I should know?
He Bingjiao proved me wrong, she reserved her best for last and produced a gripping, fighting,high-quality finale for a well-deserved, resounding victory over a strong, rising star who was widely fancied to take gold. I'm sure this morale-boosting win will go a long way to motivate her and propel her budding career forward towards greater heights in the future.
In this extraordinary match worthy of any championship finals, we have everything we could hoped for, even at the senior level. Rarely do we get to see badminton of the highest order at a junior tournament. Without doubt it is the best match of the Nanjing Youth Olympics, overall.
Talking about Akane, this is the first time I saw her stretched to the limit, several times forced to run all over the court, sometimes sprawling, a couple of times scrambling, and occasionally breathing heavier than normal. As for He BJ, it is amazing to see her making a diving retrieval and rolling over and over the floor at one point, 18-19, to send the shuttle just over the net beyond her opponent's reach, a stunt normally associated with MS. There were many exciting, brilliant and punishing rallies to keep us riveted. I shan't say more except to urge you to catch the replay if you missed it live or watch it again if you'd done so, it's certainly worth your while, I did. http://nanjing.ovp.olympic.tv/
Why did GC not commentate this one? She was commentating even the bronze medal matches. I would have loved her comments. Especially the usual, "And once again we have an all China Mens Singles Final", and her commentary on WS.
She would have been devastated that Yamaguchi may not be the one she has been hoping for all along. (To break the Chinese Hegemony)![]()
She might have departed for Denmark
I've no idea, Devendra, and you're right to wonder how GC would have reacted to HBJ's unexpected victory over the highly fancied Akane Y. It was Richard Kaufman and another guy who were commentating and they were effusive in their praises of both WS players especially, with RK saying it's the best match he had ever witnessed at the junior level, a view I shared.
I think I'm not being far-fetched to say both the MS and WS finals here are a harbinger of the future of world badminton which, like it or not, points towards CHN's continuing hegemony, perhaps even comparable to CHN's table tennis one day. Iirc, you mentioned Fan Zhengdong, the now 17-yr-old CHN table tennis fast-rising superstar who has presently reached WR#3 having won several world tour titles; the scariest part is he is still improving. He BJ, also 17 yrs old, is at the moment not as impressive as her counterpart FZD but with her remarkable success today beating Akane Y for the YOG gold, she may well be the FZD of WS badminton soon.
To me, He Bingjiao is a very exciting and entertaining player to watch with her beautiful,fluid attacking style of play despite her stocky build. Also she possesses fine tactical awareness, deft touches at the net, amazing defensive ability and a dose of deceptiveness as well as some degree of creativity. I believe she will go far, how far, let the future tell.
Do you think her and Yamaguchi's short stature will come to haunt them some day?
(Both are 17 and unlikely to grow more.)
What a titanic, memorable, epic battle between two future stars.
Shi Yuqi exacted his revenge on Lin Guipu who beat him at the WJC'14 title match.