This pair is maturing in the right time frame for Rio 2016. I don't think LXL can keep up his kind lightening speed much beyond 2016. LYD is a good reference. In the few years around the Beijing Olympics He was moving on court from Point A to Point B almost instantaneously. LYD is still one of the fastest players but can no longer shock his opponents with his teleportation act. Hope LXL/QZH can make the best of their golden years, from now to Rio 2016.
They played really really well and forced KSH to make errors. But what I really do not like was Qiu Zihan's way of shouting. It's okay to shout. But not in the direction of the opponents. I was wondering why the strict referee didn't say anything to that. And Qiu Zihan did it again. Twice. He acted like he was not ready immediately after the serve of the koreans. I just remember the first one was when they had 20-19 or like that. Serve by KSH. I mean this is really lame and not sportsmanlike. And he did it again in the second game I think. He did that also in the recent matches before SC. It's something which he really really has stop. Otherwise this pair is going to get a bad reputation. And I can imagine that other pairs would imitate such stupid and unfair actions.
^^ Yeah, iirc they also used that cheap tactic with Bo/Moe at All England at around game point, and in another similar situation at another SS . It's becoming a bad habit. Just like how when they're receiving serves, even the receiver's partner has his hand up to indicate non-readiness! Come on! Are you serious?! No other pair does that, not even another CHN pair...
To me, fist pumping,glaring,shouting or yelling are just expressive behaviours of players in the heat of competition, esp for the men, and different players have different characteristics and temperaments. Particularly the glaring when facing the opponents doesn't mean it's directed at them, it likely demonstrates intense concentration or anxiety or both. Some players simply wear their hearts on their sleeves and it'd be unnatural for them to suppress themselves. As long as the players don't cross the bounds of decency or exhibit gestures that are in bad taste such as showing the middle finger, uttering threatening words or obscenities,throwing the racquet in the opponents' direction - I'm all right and guess the players shouldn't let their opponents' behaviour affect them too much and just stay focused to play their game right, and leave the rest to the umpire. As for the server and receiver readiness rule, I think the BWF should look deeper into it and come up with something better, say the time taken to serve shouldn't be more than a certain number of seconds, and the receiver is considered ready once his/her racquet is raised and legs in position. My personal opinion isn't targeted at any specific player but applies in general.
Ko was serving in an unpredictably fast fashion. QZH may have wanted to send a message to slow that down. This brings up the topic of gamesmanship at service for both the server and receiver. BWF should take a good look and send clear directives to the players, coaches and umpires. There are so many borderline service problems such as holding the serve for too long (e.g. Ma Jin, Christinna Pedersen), serving before the receiver being fully set (e.g. LCW serving just as the receive lowering his raised hand), double actions, etc. We are not even talking about where the "waist" is, which can seem random. There should be clearer understanding for all. Some of the "tactics" that are simply uncomfortable for fans to watch should clearly be banned.
Regarding glaring at opponents direction, i noticed they did it more in game 1 when they faced the camera. In game 2, they rarely do that, and they often glaring to their back direction. Considering their boss and teammates sitting location (which is behind Korean pair in game 1), then this factor may have something to do with their attitudes. When seems that they glaring to their opponents in game 1, there is a chance they glare with full self confidence to their boss for the opportunity they're be given that night, that they did the job well! Anyway, thus is just my personal opinion. If i see it wrong, then they do better change that bad habit for their own reputation. Afterall, there is an umpire on court that could see the overall process along the match, and can give warning when they feel anything has going wrong way.
I agree with you. I think Ko's serve was too fast, he would often serve while Qiu was still looking at the ground. Both sides need to be ready. Receiver needs to be able to lower his hand and have his eyes upwards.
How about the service judge (let him/her take up this part of the workload from the umpire) calling out 'Ready, serve!"? To be more specific, the service judge call out both sides to get ready, the moment he sees they are ready, he gives the order to serve and the server has to do it within say five seconds, failing which the point is awarded to the receiving side. Another thing is once serve is announced, the receiver cannot suddenly raise his arm or indicate he is not ready.
I believe it should be more similar to Tennis - you never have any issues there. You play to the pace of the server, who has 30 seconds (I think) to serve....delaying it past that warrants a warning (although some umpires lack the stones to do it with the big names, Nadal gets way with delaying all the time). You can't really serve whenever you want, but once the receiver appears ready, he should not be allowed to raise his hand again. The excuse of sweat dripping into the eyes is really just lame, especially when you wiped off the sweat 5 seconds ago.
Only if badminton service starts from the baseline with a toss. The toss gives sufficient warning to the receiver to go from ready to really ready. There is no such luxury in badminton.
No, the server walking to the line and getting ready gives sufficient warning. What's your point, anyway? That the backswing of the racket isn't sufficient to warn the receiver? The difference in serves is basically what makes badminton so much more interesting than tennis where the serve carries way too much importance (I mean, look at guys like Roddick - what can he do besides serving really fast?). The 30 seconds wouldn't apply from when the server is ready to serve, but from the time he has the shuttle. That way the receiver doesn't have to be on edge any longer than he has to with the current rules.
Won't see them again for a couple weeks. Perhaps time to check out how they did against KKK/TBH at the 2011 WC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdfecq9nrWs Compared to the LXL today, LXL looked like he had a tranquillizer shot before the match.
The way some players serve? Like LCW and KSH? There's no way the receiver has enough time to detect the backswing to the serve, especially having to see thru the net and those players don't have a service holding position before delivering serve...
I disagree, players in Tennis like to take their sweet time, it is annoying (the game itself is annoying too ;p).
Well it depends on the umpire how strictly they enforce the rules. But officially they're supposed to serve after a certain time...
I am excited for the Liu/Qiu duo to meet the malaysians KKK/TBH. Current head2head stats is 6-0, in favor with the malaysians. Lets see how much the Chinese pair have improved.
I'm rather unexcited at the prospect. With the Malaysians' recent form it wouldn't be a contest....the scores had been close since 2011, and with the Chinese' breakthrough this year I'm rather certain they'd win. Otoh, the Malaysians are under a bit of pressure since BAM stated that they'll be split unless they get to the WC final....let's see how that plays out (I believe they'll neither get to the final nor be split, BAM has no players to fill that gap....once they and LCW retire I don't see Malaysia winning more than 1 SS title a year).
Is it just me or does sayaka takahashi japanese WS player resemble liu xiaolong, both facial resemblance as well as traits.
