After the dust has settled and the tears have been wiped away, I muster the strength to comment on this final purely from a Badminton fan perspective. LD is one of a kind never to be seen in another 50 years. But this time the gold was not a sure thing. He had to muster his superior mental strength to win this one. LD's game and skill. From 2008 onwards, LD game has not changed much but compared to pre 2008 the past four years has seen him playing a more relaxed style of play. This is to conserve energy and to peak at the right time for the majors. The technique he displayed over the last 4 years right up to the final has not changed. His overhead smashes , I believe, are not as powerful as say in 2005 or 2006 but the accuracy and timing is perfect. The way he demolished Lee Hyun Il with selectively timed smashes is sublime. He made it look so simple. Physically, LD's natural make up is superior to LCW. No matter how hard LCW can train his muscles, short off taking anabolic steriods, he would not be able to match LD physically. The other person who may be on par with LD physically (muscle power) is Sho Sasaki but he doesnt have the wide range of techniques to put himself on top. Nothing has changed tactically and technically for LD in this final.<br><br>For LCW, His movement and speed around the court for the few matches before the final was slow and hesitant. This could be he wanted to just play in a speed so as not to risk a recurrence of his injury before the finals. But his arms seem to have been beef upped a bit. His technique has changed however. He uses a lot slices to bring the shuttle down instead of outright whipping. <br><br>His net play, although was giving him lots of problems in earlier rounds was inch perfect in the semis and the finals. He seemed to mixed up his speed, with accurate half and combination smashes to make LD guessing the speed of the shuttle. This has contributed to LD making many unforced errors thus losing the first game. Then I am reminded of Xiong Guo Bao views on how LCW could beat LD a few months before OG 12. He remarked that LD is physically superior in power and speed not to mention techniques. There was no point in straining your body to break point , you will only risk injury. Better concentrate on the skills and techniques. How prescience that observation was. LCW was injured right after that I read that remarked. So I guess LCW went back to the drawing board and have to play in a way to minimise putting strain on his injury. The difference in the finals. I believe is the decision made in Court that determine the out come. Had LCW not let that shuttle fall thinking LD had hit too long at 19-18, LCW had a higher probability to win because the momentum was moving his way. That mistake caused him to lose focus and LD saw his chance and grabbed it. What do BC'ers think, I'd like input on my observations on techniques. Final word, LD and LCW have taken men's singles to such high degree that coaches in major badminton countries are studying the games of these two to ensure future stars will be endowed with their respective innovations.
maybe it's fate but imo, all has to do with mental game (who is tougher), even with the 19-18 situation. I thought LCW would wrap it up when he had an 18-16 lead but for most likely the same reason, let it slipped away..It was almost like what happened in last yr's WC Final, 3rd game, with LCW having match pt but blew it..I also thought quite a bit of LCW's pts came thru LD's unforced errors..
At 19-18 i can imagine if m. frost was watching he must shouted out 'hit it, don't look at the line just return it.
Without going too much into detail, I think that LD has a totally different mental and physical approach to the game compared to Beijing 4 years ago. It seems as if he reacts to what his opponent (LCW) has to offer in the first place instead of trying to really dominate. He's the one who is hunted by the others. So let's see what they can do. Having said this I think that he still has a slight edge towards LCW because of the possiblity of changing in another gear. What we have seen of LD at the Olympics was mentally exceptionally strong. Nonetheless I think he can actually play even better. Maybe not for a whole match anymore but still to the point that there's nobody who can really keep up with him.
btw, i can't stop to thinking about this one thing. in this OG MS final match, LD again overtake leading LCW to finally win with 2 points margin. the same case also happen last year in WC with pretty same storyline. do you guys think it has something to do with luck? or it's more to players ability? be it LD's superior mental strength as some members said, or LCW simply can't handle the pressure to be the leading one in crucial stage of a major match?
the closer to the end of the game, the higher the risk for leaving any shots. don't need frost to tell him that. esp when the direction of the draft is blowing shuttle in for his side of the court. too risky.
It's all together, I'd say. The luck comes with his great abilities. Still: Without taking away from LCW's qualities as a player I'm not so sure if it's really necessary for LD to risk loosing (even against Sasaki). On the other hand as long as he's successful there's no reason to change.
for me...at point 18 even 18-18 or u lead 1 point..exp 18-18 / 19-18...for last 3 point u just all out..attack,attack and attack...biggest mistake is hope ur opponent make mistake...or u play save and rally just want ur opponent make mistake....it is not LD luck..lin dan just all out for crucial point...in other side, he take a risk,not play save...diff champions is go for attack n risk...but if u made mistake, still better than u just hope ur opponent mistake....sometimes i only trust lin dan only lost at 3 final...korea open final,olympic 2004 and malaysia open....
i believe they both have all the necessary skillz to win, it just all boils down to their mental strength like most of you said. since i started following professional badminton, i realized that LCW is just an all round class act, nice guy, never a ****, and please correct me if i'm wrong. where as LD could be a jerk. and i say this with the utmost respect to LD as well. LD is certainly very very talented and i love watching both players play, but i think LD has that certain edge, that when he's playing, that look tells you, i'm going to kick your butt and enjoy it too. where as the way LCW looks when he plays it says, nice game, i win, but really, thank you for playing, and the thank you is genuine. this is just my opinion but for some reason it seems to me that if both players are on par skill wise, then you need to have that attitude, to be a bit dickish, in order to win?
lee chong wei might need to refound his 12-20 down to lindan in malaysia open 2006 final and chase back and win spirit
Agree. If M. frost had been in the coach chair instead of redundant Rashid, LCW would have the closing advantage. Decisions like should I, should I not, in the face of uncertainty due to the drift, should be about whether he is in a position to return well. If can return well, then hit it, if not, just leave it. In WC11, at the closing stage , Frost made a comment about LCW making a great net shot and he should have stayed at the net because of that. It s amazing how if LCW s not aware of this detail, that his coaches could miss it. Or maybe, they re just ignorant. Again, there s that stereotype reflex reason of LD s mental edge. That s rubbish and it s always bandied about because it sounds right. ( It s like when Federer beat Murray in Wimbledon, it s because of his mental edge but when Murray beat Federer in OG, it s because Federer had a 4 hour semi final, Federer lost because of fatigue factor, not because this time, Murray has the mental edge.) Both LCW and LD have reached so many finals and titles that their mental strength is a given. The advantage LD has is the CHN coaches and by that I don't mean just XXZ and LYB, it s all the coaches combined, in whatever input They would have analysed in what situations LCW has the edge and not. Then LD would have been trained till second nature on all the best options to close out a match. When prepared in this way, he would be able to stay calm even under pressure because he would know what to do, without having to think. Actually, BAM don t even have to hire M. frost. He could just be consulted on post mortem basis to understand what went wrong or could have been done better. Because no smart coach would be dumb enough to be employed by BAM.
it was a great win i think? too bad, LCW couldn't use it as mental advantage when playing LD after that MO. for next encounter between them 2 in the future, maybe the better strategy is to let LD reach 20 1st in the 3rd game, before LCW trailing for it?
for me personally, sometimes if comparing LD and LCW, i would say that they're maybe the Angel and Demon (in positive meaning )for badminton world. LCW with all his kind and good record, and LD with all his controversy and arrogancies, (not to mention the tattoos too ). hehe.. the difference that make it interesting when see them meet each other. but just opinion. and of course, respect for both of them.
My conclusions after watching the finale, 1) Technically LD was stronger - It was obviously that physically LD was fitter however I don't belive that was the reason he won the match. To me LD had done his homework and extremely well prepared for LCW. You could tell LD was more prepared for LCW's shots and thus was able to control the pace of the games. As a spectator, I started to find the correlation between LCW's body movements and the shots he placed. That implied he was exhausted, nervous and started to depend on his body to make the shots. If I could read it, so did LD. Having said that, my conclusion is technically LD was better than LCW in the finals. 2) Determination - Yes, LD might be slower compared to years ago but his determination and mental toughness were something LCW lacked. No matter what the situation was, LD seemed to be able to regain calmness and control of the pace. As for LCW, he seemed to get distracted easily and you never know how long he was able to sustain his performance. Typically starting game 2 against LD, LCW will start to lose confidence and make unforced errors - unfortunately that happened again in the final games. Of course it is easy for me to make that conclusions since the match is over now ... LD could be the greatest singles player in badminton history and LCW will always be behind him.
yes, i still cannot believe and will never forget that 3rd set. surely the biggest anomaly of LD's career!! Chin up LCW, at least it seems you are destined to forever win the MO
LCW vs LD rivalry typifies the golden era of chinese badminton right now. Only chinese players are able to intercept, read and counter LCW's game right now. SE Asia badminton is right now suffereing a great downfall from being a tad better than CHN in 90s, especially INA badminton, to nowhere near CHN at the moment. It's also partly due to CHNs attitude towards SE Asia tournaments(skipping and conceding walkover in SE Asia tournaments etc.), which often makes SE Asia not the center of badminton as it was before.
I feel sad for LCW , such a talented player but have never win anything that classed as the top events (Olympics , World championship). Just hoped he will still be playing in 4 yrs time and have another go for the Gold. Lets hope he will win the WC a few times starting next year. I think he show too much respect to LD ,his opponents and the officials as well. In the third game when he was 8-5 up and when the serve was called in , the umpire have actually announced 9-5 before LD and coach went up to the umpire and forced him to correct the score to 8-6 . That was the turning point of the match as LCW lost his concentration. If he has went up to the umpire , argue and said something , it might be different. As he would let his steam-out and concentrate on the next few points . Overall, I think he is too fair , which is what the sport need , but as they says ''being nice can be a disadvantage to oneself''
What you may call "dickish" many others would say having a strong competitive nature that drives them to go that extra mile to make sure that they win. It's a very important aspect of many players' games that allowed them to get as far as they have had. I'm sure even LCW has his competitive instinct, it's just may not be as intense as LD's.
It's quite annoying how people do this. As soon as LCW wins the AE, people start ignoring the AE as if it is not one of the major titles. Whereas BEFORE LCW won his first AE, the major titles which he had yet to win ALWAYS included the AE (as well as Olympics and WC). FACT - LCW has won a major title in his career, being his two AE titles. Another fact is that he hasn't won the biggest and grandest of titles.
