heavy pressure on china now. my prediction is still 2 gold minimum... settling for silver is not an option for them. heavy burden indeed.
He always play with extra energy/excitement in the final from the last few finals he entered. I don't think he will have pressure in the final. So, I hope he is able to play all out! Bravo LCW! Malaysia is proud of you! Hope you can deliver the first gold medal for the nation.
Lin Dan might have enjoyed a semi like that - he's like the old tennis player Jimmy Connors, who thrives off any kind of pressure, but LCW isn't that type of guy. He thouroughly outplayed LHI at times IMO, and the fact he won the third game 21-13 after throwing away an 8 point lead underlines his class. But for him, i think it was an excercise in self-discipline ... not to allow himself to get too wound up to play ... visibly clamped down on all displays of emotion until afterward. LCW can play better than that, in terms of cutting out his unforced errors. And he will need to against Lin Dan. The problem with Lin Dan, who i see as being similar to LHI but with a more positive outlook, is that he is able to get fired up, pumped up by any percieved weakness in his opponent, and he's also able to turn a bad passage of play into a positive by using his frustration positively. LCW is more aiming for consistency. Against Lin Dan, he will have to steel himself for periods where Lin Dan comes out of the blocks hot, and just kills him for 5-6 points, just accept it and keep chipping away and believe he will still win. A good start is going to be important... his match with Park was settled in the first game, where he rattled him so badly Park never recovered. What he needs to do is keep attacking. In the match with LD he needs to try to win in 2 straight sets - because any good passage of play from Lin Dan will be fed off. Even if LCW takes the opener he should still go for broke - Lin Dan mostly gets psyched by 'doing' - controlling rallies, hitting those huge straight smashes. If LCW gets on his case, and doesn't give him breathing room, he could just succumb to the pressure.
The Japanese made so many uncharacteristics mistakes at the end of the game 1. 2nd game should be another close one.
I had dinner with a Korean family last night and we got talking about the OG, and eventually badminton. Well, he didn't know much about recent Korean badminton, but knew of only one player... PJB! Good enough I told him.
What a joke, Bolt decimates the field in his heat 9.92 secs. He was slowing down after 50 m and "jogging"
