minarti timur still plays , she's 37 YO ,...hmmm she's not pairing with trikus ? where is taufik ? isn't he in main draw ?
tony/halim vs jung/lee eh? that should be a cracking match. if anyone out there can record it, and post it, i'm sure we'll all be very grateful indeed!
I thought all Malaysian shuttlers in the exemption of Lee Chong Wei will be preparing for Malacca Open instead as it's a must for national shuttlers? Surprised to see Choong and Lee in the draw though
Wowwww..... It sounded great that Indo players will join the event in Macau. Will they play for the US or for Indo? Anyway, it doesn't matter. Hope the Indonesian people will win. Regards, Antok
No doubt. Unfortunately I have never heard of a badminton event where the first round is televised. Too bad. The Tony/Minarti vs. Zhang/Gao match would be a great one, too. Remember Taipei last year when Tony played for the first time ever with a local player and they took out then world #1 Lee/Lee in the first round. I've never heard of anyone so successful in scratch pairings.
Indeed...it was a shocking result...they went all the way to win the event! Pairing Tony with any one could produce a shock because he's just so good in doubles! Remember...Zhang Jun/Gao Ling just lost to Lee Yong Dae/Hwang Yu Mi in the quarter-final of the Chinese Taipei Open...so, they might not be in their top form.
Anything can happen in sport but mixed doubles isn't the same as mens doubles. Tony is an awesome player who can set his partner up for smashes and kills ala Howard Bach. With mixed though that's the girls job! She must needs control the net and give Tony a chance to make offensive shots. The reverse where Tony is controlling the net won't be nearly as effective unless she smashes like a man! They have a chance to win if his partner can handle the net against Gao Lin who w/ Gail Emms is reputably the best front court players in the game .... If anything cheer Tony's partner if u want a good match. I think he can handle the back court just fine. Derek
Right. The fact is that Minarti Timur is a former champion. She won in mixed in Japan, Singapore and Germany once each and Malaysia and Thailand twice each and the Indonesian Open five times most recently in 2002. She is getting old but has been to the final 16 twice this year and the semis once. Tony's partner when he won the mixed doubles in Taipei last year was not a champion. She was just one of Taiwan's best players. I don't know how Cheng Wen-Hsing is in women's doubles but in mixed, the only thing she'd ever won before Taipei with Tony was the U.S. Open in 2004. Maybe she is a latent mixed ace who just hasn't had the top-calibre partners but Minarti was a mixed ace, period. If she has any of that greatness left next week, Zhang and Gao had better watch out.
