Yeah, hard lessons and a very good one,similarly to what he got from LCW who schooled him. As for Lin Dan's GO and AE proceedings, I''m inclined to think it's Lin Dan's own thinking and decisions - as we know, Lin Dan is a strong, independent character with a mind of his own ( he once said he dislike government officials telling him what they expect from him), even LYB admitted he can't 'control' him sometimes and recently he has said he no longer expect much from him except only to do his part for the team majors when needed. In fact, post-LOG'12, LYB has also expressed expressed lesser demands from and reduced expectations of Lin Dan, just more so now after Rio'16 when Lin Dan came home with nothing to show for. After all, LYB certainly has enough on his plate to worry about, esp after CHN's lackluster performance at the AE'17, not forgetting all the slings and arrows directed at him the past few years culminating in the Rio'16's big letdown, what with the players relationship issue and Yu Yang's outburst as well as calls for LYB to step down. I mean LYB has to work doubly hard on developing the younger players and inject new blood or come up with solutions to turn China's problematic situation around for the next Olympic cycle, for sure Lin Dan's exploit, or failure for that matter, is the least of his concerns now.
Well at an all China semi final, in a GPG level event, a few days before the All England, it would be highly likely that LYB called for an easy match. Either by dictating pace or result, or simply the more open and sporting option calling a one-setter. I'm aware of LD's borderline rouge attitude towards this, and I highly respect it, but given his current WR point position, and the fact that it is CBA who register players for important upcoming events and team championships, he's not in a position to rebel. In fact I think they have tried walking down that before, causing LD to miss a WC, and keeping him in the cold for some lower importance tournaments causin him to miss WR points. Anyway, it's just a thought. Cheers, FB
I think you mixed up the GO with the AE, the SYQ - LD semifinal was at the AE. Btw, SYQ didn't play the GO. Furthermore, Li Yongbo should be more concerned about developing, grooming and nurturing the younger echelon of players in all the five disciplines than to continue relying on the old guards like Lin Dan to deliver at the WC and in the future. For the time being, no category, even WD or XD, is considered safe, a sure winner, or guaranteed for Team CHN as latest results have shown. Both Chen Long and Zhang Nan are still in their prime at age 28 and 27 respectively, so not considered old guards. The soon-to-be 34 years old Lin Dan is and it would be dereliction of duty on LYB's part to place too much emphasis on the 'aged' Lin Dan at the expense of the young cohort such as 21-yr-old Shi Yuqi, 24-yr-old Qiao Bin, 21-yr-old Zhao Junpeng and others (I like the 18-year-old Sun Feixiang); the 25-yr-old Tian Houwei and the 24-yr-old Huang Yuxiang haven't been impressive. Another thought is that LYB, for the Sudirman Cup that's only two months away in May, has to be certain of Lin Dan's form and real ability to deliver the goods when required. In other words, he must trust his own judgement and have confidence in Lin Dan without having to tamper with the results when two of his players are facing each other in a normal tournament, a non-major event to China; otherwise he won't be able to know their real strengths under tournament conditions, it would actually defeat the purpose, be counterproductive, self-defeating, as good as lying to or misleading himself, and possibly backfire on him. As for the August WC, Lin Dan simply has to qualify based on his own merits. Wasn't Lin Dan awarded a wild card entry for the 2013 WC after he took a long hiatus post-LOG'12 ? And didn't he fail to qualify for the 2014 WC for taking another six-month break ? If Lin Dan is that serious about partaking in the 2017 WC, he wouldn't have taken a four-month break post-Rio'16. Don't expect LYB to sacrifice the younger players who deserve a crack at the WC if they are good enough just for the sake of Lin Dan who has no lack of major titles as that will be bad for team morale and stymie the next generation of young talents. I'm sure the 'sacrificial lambs or victims' would resent it and LYB is unwise to risk that, esp now that his Head Coach position is not as secure as before. Already his selection of the then WR#4 Li Xuerui in place of the WR#3 Wang Shixian for LOG'12 evoked quite a bit of displeasure and initial protests not only from WSX herself but from Cai Yun at that time including some others. Luckily LYB's hard decision turned out to be the right one and even WSX later learned to take it in stride. Well, that's for the all-important OG. There is no necessity nor good reason for what you argued LYB would do to 'interfere' in a PSS All England event. What for ? Worst comes to worst, Lin Dan can still go to the Sudirman Cup as a reserve player, if not as MS2 or MS3 in the national team as Chen Long is likely to remain as MS1. There's still a few tournaments and some time left before the deadline for submission of team lists to the Sudirman Cup. Anyway, both of us are trying to make intelligent guesses as to what transpired based on our own observations, understanding and reasoning. Believe it or not, LYB's attitude to Lin Dan nowadays is to 'let him be - he knows what he wants'. That's just my opinion.
Yes. Sorry. It was of course that AE semi I meant. And it would make sense to have your two players conserve energy for the following final. Cheers, FB
I think the rest of your post is interesting and I agree with a lot of it. But it doesn't really have to do with what I wrote. I specifically suggested that the semi final was perhaps dictated to be a "one setter", NOT determining the outcome, but simply saying whoever wins (the first set), gains a needed advantage for tomorrow's final. And I suggested that no directions was given before the SO final. Of any kind. Cheers, FB
While China grooms, they will want to be still viewed as the supreme leader of badminton world. My guess is Chen Long and Lin Dan will probably feature in Sudirman Cup. Simply because there are no body else in the current China team who can have a good chance at silverware. Haha of else they can send Tian Hou Wei.... :-|
Shi Yuqi was completely outplayed and controlled at the net area; in fact, Srikanth dominated the net, often forcing SYQ to scramble for it or lift as he predicted allowing him to quickly get behind the shuttle to unleash his smashes anywhere he wants and commanding the rallies.
In my opinion, Shi Yuqi has the talent. He still needs to improve his net play and shot selection. In the next few year, I could see him winning a few Superseries if he can improved himself more.
Its very obvious the difference between Shi Yuqi (SY ) and Srikanth, the smashes, i.e. power play. Both have a similar sort of play in the main. SY plays a defensive game ala Chen Long but he doesn't have the delicate returns of his senior which would create problems. SY didn't try to change to an attacking mode but when he did he scored a few points. He does have the power game but stuck to the game plan. Smashing does have some cause and effect as the opponent will try not to lift or has the threat of a smash. In the end Srikanths power game scored points easily and caused errors from SY. Interesting to see how Chen Long handles Srikanths power game if they do meet.
I see it as a blessing in disguise at the beginning of his career, still only 21 years old. It's good that his shortcomings, weaknesses and vulnerabilities are exposed now than at the WC. There's some time for him and his coaches to work to it. I feel that Srikanth played extremely well, very motivated, but at the same time he has showed more or less all his cards. All those who lost to him these past few weeks , Wang Tzu Wei, Son Wan Ho, Shi Yuqi, Chen Long, even Sai Praneeth, will know what to expect from him next time they meet, and will come up with strategies and tactics to deal with him, depending on their individual abilities. I would think an up-and-coming player like Shi Yuqi, talented and determined to make a mark in his career, will constantly strive to improve himself and he should learn more from his failures and defeats instead of sinking into the depths of despair as age is on his side. Remember, Lin Dan at age 22 in 2005 suffered one humiliating defeat at Taufik Hidayat's hands at the Anaheim WC and then another unexpected defeat to him at the AG'05 individual event after having beaten him twice in the team event. Since then Lin Dan never looked back, not once did he lose to Taufik again for the next seven years until the latter's retirement. In fact, Lin Dan from 2006 onward became the Super Dan we all knew.
I'm a little skeptical of SYQ's potential. For his age and build, he is slow, especially in his movement towards the net and dealing with deception. Technically he's very pleasant to watch, especially his straight drop from the round-the-head position, but he lacks power relative to other top players. His net play leaves much to be desired too, but that area is should be an easier fix than speed and power.
OK, so far in the early years of Shi Yuqi's career - it's after age 19 , as is normal for CHN players, that he fully transitioned to the pro circuit, so at age 21 now, born 28 Feb 1996, he's in his 3rd year of his international career,properly speaking - his game is generally effective, efficient, simple and straightforward, mostly textbook strokes with a low rate of simple errors, not a broad repertoire of strokes but somewhat lacking in deception and creativity. At the same time, he is physically not very strong yet, not nearly as athletic nor as tall and well-built as Chen Long and also not as speedy and agile. However, as to his playing style,I believe, it's quite possible for him to transform himself into a different player in the near future before his game fully matures with age. Remember, both Sun Jun and Dong Jiong transformed their game mid-way through their careers, from playing a more controlled rallying one to a much more fast and aggressive one or vice versa as applied to their respective cases. In recent times, the most famous case of transformation is Lin Dan of whom I needn't go into details. Let's see how it goes for Shi Yuqi going forward. I still think it's too early to stereotype him.
Shi Yuqi is still early in his career especially since he only began competing in the GPG/SS events starting from late last year. He is still 21, being the No.4 that early is quite good already. He has lots of room for improvement, so I don't think he is already done or not good enough. If he can improve his physical and speed, I suppose he will be a force to be reckon with. Let's wait for a few more year before judging him completely because he is still young.
His physique looks pretty "matured" to me, hence my apprehension. He's got the musculature that CL achieved only after 24-25 years old, but not the strength or speed. If SYQ is already nearing physical peak, as is appearance suggests to me, then I'm worried his potential is capped. But hey in some time in the future I may have to come back here and gladly eat my words.
OTOH, my greatest worry is that he may become another Chen Jin, near the top but never reaching there. Well, who knows.
China does not lack number of quality shuttlers. Even if he could not make it, there would be somebody out of the System. So, no need to worry. Sent from my SM-G600FY using Tapatalk
Generally speaking, man stop growing at age 21 though most of the growth takes place before the age of 18 but in exceptional cases, some men continue to grow until they are 25 years old.
IMHO, if you only look at SYQ's game with Srikanth, it ended disastrous for him, comprehensively outplayed except for some moments in G2 but he couldn't keep it up. On the contrary,his game with Hans Kristian Vittinghus the day before was a different story. He started his usual manner and HKV's fast and furious game threatened to blow him away but, to his credit, he was able to adjust his game, step it up and get the better of his opponent, something he couldn't do as much to Srikanth whose tight net play and relentless attack based on good anticipation of most of SYQ's returns gave his younger opponent little chance of a comeback. On a side note, even Chen Long, who after he's just managed to edge out Lin Dan in the QFs of the Aussie Open in a hard and well-fought protracted battle for a narrow victory that meant a lot to him, suddenly couldn't produce the same form against the remarkable 37-year-old evergreen Lee Huyn Il the following day and nearly got booted out in two straight sets if not for his superior physicality that saved him in the end for a three-setter win. Then again, he couldn't pull himself up and continued the same manner against the much younger and in-form Srikanth the next day in the final and was bested. To me, Chen Long gave me the impression that it was mission accomplished for him once he beat Lin Dan and there's no more to be done, the rest are secondary. Just saying. Coming back to SYQ, what I want to say is he is still relatively young and inexperienced as well as continuing to develop his game, I'd give him a few more years to see where his full potential lies. I guess most of us tend to expect much more from a budding star when he is from China as opposed to non-CHN players.
