So, two weeks of competition have just been concluded. Team Indonesia managed to win 2 golds and 2 silvers. The haul is probably less than expected (4), but, I am pretty satisfied with it. So, let me review the performance of the players involved in the these two opens. MEN'S SINGLES Taufik Hidayat -- BELOW AVERAGE Let's face it, he has not really adapted to the new scoring system as well as the other top players have. He reached the last 16 and QF in the two events and have not beaten any top 20 players in the past 2 weeks. This was further worsened by his walkout in the QF match against LD. His absurb behavior is puzzling many people, the latest one include PBSI officials back home in JKT. They originally thought that he was injured! It will take a miracle for him to win the WC. But, again, I don't think he even care about it now! Sony Dwi Kuncoro -- SATISFACTORY He had a bad draw in the Korea Open, with a first round match against Boonsak and I expected him to lose in that match. However, he compensated for that with strong performances in the HK Open, reaching the QF with victories over Ng Wei and Chen Hong. He is still not yet in top form, so, let's give him some time. I think with some luck in the draw, he can reach the last 16 or even QF in the WC. Simon Santoso -- AVERAGE Simon has still not delivered the goods in the sense that he always loses to those players he is expected to lose to (such as Lee Hyun Il and Chen Yu). He better improves, otherwise, his tenure in Pelatnas is going to be cut short due to underperformance! WOMEN'S SINGLES -- no comments because both players suffered from fatigue due to missing their early flights to HKG. MEN'S DOUBLES Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan -- EXCELLENT! Kido/Hendra start to show why they should be Team Indonesia's no 1 pair now with a semi-final finish in Korea Open and a gold in the Hong Kong Open. They have defeated some of the top pairs including the top two seeds for the WC (Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae and Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah), a former world champion in Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen, Gan Teik Chai/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (ranked 10), Kristoff Hopp/Ingo Kindervater (ranked 19) and two scratch pairings in Guo Zhendong/Xu Chen and Sudket Prapakamol/Songpol Anukritayawan. Unfortunately, Kido/Hendra won't be in the top 8 seeds for the WC. They miss out on the last one to their compatriot Luluk/Alvent by only 45 points! Still, I am encouraged by their progress and they should go far. With a good draw, I will expect them to reach at least the quarter-final at the WC. Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto -- POOR. A disastrous fortnight for Luluk/Alvent which began with a defeat at the hands of an unknown English pair in the first round of the Korea Open. They managed to beat the English pair (albeit in 3 sets) but lost to a Chinese scratch pair. They better buck up or risk being split. Thankfully, they will be seeded 8th for the WC and they should reach at least quarter-final. With a good draw, I hope they can repeat their performance in reaching the semi-final. WOMEN'S DOUBLES Jo Novita/Gresya Polii -- VERY GOOD. they have shown good progress over the past one year and it culminated in a second-placing at the Korea Open last week with notable victories over an upcoming Chinese pair in Pan Pan/Tian Qing and one of their arch-rival Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing. Lucky for them, Lee Hyo Jung was injured in the semi-final match and they advanced to the final. Nevertheless, it represented their best achievement in a 6* tournament. They were placed in a hard quarter in the HK Open draw and started with a victory over Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota. Unfortunately, they failed to reach the QF with a defeat at the hands of the best European pair in Gail Emms/Donna Kellogg, who is also among one of the top 4 seeds for the WC. I hope that they can reach the quarter-final at the WC! Lita Nurlita/Nathalia Poluakan -- GOOD. Nobody expected them to reach the semi-finals last week and they did it with notable victories over 3 European pairs, including Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg, before losing to the big winners of the 2 opens (Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen). Unfortunately, they were immediately drawn against Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing and lost in rubber-sets. Lita/Nathalia should be sent to more tournaments if they are to break the top 20s. MIXED DOUBLES Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir -- EXCELLENT! It would have been a flawless performance if they beat Zheng Bo/Zhao Tingting today. However, the Chinese pair looked sharper and they deserved the victory. Nevertheless, to come home with one gold and one silver after two hard weeks is a feat that not many can accomplish. In addition, they have beaten Sudket/Saralee twice in a row, the top two mixed Danish pairs and of course their arch-rival and main rival for the WC title Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen. They will be the top seed for the WC and they should reach the semi-finals. I hope they will avoid meeting Chinese pairs before that stage. Their chance of a repeat title at the WC is very very high esp since Robertson/Emms are not in good shape lately and the injury to Zhang Jun yesterday. Mohd Rizal/Gresya Polii -- SATISFACTORY. A pass mark to Rizal/Gresya because of the tough matches they had. They only won 1 match, beating the young Korean pair Yoo/Ha and lost two matches, one to Anthony Clark/Donna Kellogg and the other one to Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms. To be fair to them, both losses are to top 10 pairs and they are expected to lose. The fact that they are included in the 6* events indicate that Richard Mainaky sees some potential in them to be a strong backup pair to Nova/Butet. The points from these 2 tournaments will also be valuable as they continue to rise up the ranking table to reach the top 25 with just 6 tournaments under their belt. They have a high chance of ending the year with a top 15 ranking if they are sent to the Japan, China and Denmark Open. Anggun Nugroho/Vita Marissa -- POOR. As a senior pair, they failed to win a match in the past fortnight...very disappointing indeed. Except for that semi-final spot at the Malaysia Open, Anggun/Vita have yet to perform well.
Just my 2 cents..and on Taufik.. thanks for the recaps badMania (rest of recap snipped for brevity).. Overall, they looked at best average, with only the MD pair(Kido/Setiawan) and XD pair(Nova/Lilyana) performing up to par..The rest of them, only 1 word :stink, almost pathetic(esp. Taufik's embarrassing act on Thursday nigh)..hehe Outlook : they need to practice & practice & practice even more, even for Kido/Setiawan & Nova/Lilyana...WC will be even tougher, let alone trying to defend their XD title..For Taufik, well, he needs to go back and re-evaluate what's gonna be his goal the rest of the yr. If he doesn't have the hunger to compete or win in the upcoming WC, i know some of you don't like this, but don't go & just stay home with his family. If he does go and carry the same attitude again, he might embarrass the whole event..
Err...I would probably add the two WD pairs as those who performed above the expectation I would agree that the rest looked pretty much average, with pass marks only to Sony and perhaps Rizal/Gresya (since they are not going to the WC anyway). I am terribly disappointed with Luluk/Alvent's recent performances starting from the Singapore Open!
ok, ok, i'll give some credit to the young gals, esp. Polii/Novita..... No, actually i was referring more to the consistency and results of the Kido/Setiawan and esp. Nova/Lilyana pairings than the rest of players. I mean, reaching back-to-back appearance in the Semis is pretty darn good, don't you think?? considering it was already a tiresome 2 weeks trip to begin with.. BTW, is the Final appearance @ the KO by Polii/Novita their highest so far in their tandem-career?? sorry, don't recall.. Anyways, we shall see what those pairs will show us in the upcoming WC. I know the Kido/Setiawan pairing must be quite giddy and upbeat for the WC; cos last yr. i remember they weren't allowed to compete last minute, even if they offered to go with their own money..?!.. Off topic:badMania, i assume you're back, safe and sound in H.K. already??..
Yes, I believe the Final appearance is their best result so far. They have reached the semi-final of the HK Open last year and won the 4* Philippines Open this year. No, I will stay in SG for another day....returning back to HK tomorrow afternoon...hehe...
What if we consider Candra Wijaya/Tony Gunawan as half team Indonesia? Then, we should add half gold to team Indonesia.
Thank's badmania for the excellent review. I agree with all your reviews there. Taufik is indeed showing very poor performance. He keeps bitching about the new scoring system and fail to produce good results. Just like ctjcad said, if he does not have the drive and ambition, it is better to leave him in Jakarta to enjoy the WC live on the television instead of playing on it. I think Sony has done a good job so far. He has just recovered from injury after all. He managed to beat Chen Hong which I think a pretty damn good achievement. Hope he can recover soon and take over Taufik's role as Indonesia's men single no: 1. Simon still has a lot to learn. He has to practice more and more. As usual, Indonesia's doubles teams performance are above average. Kido/Setiawan and Widianto/Natsir is are excellent. Let's not forget that Candra/Tony are also product of national training camp of Indonesia. Rizal/Polii still have a lot to learn, but they have been showing some promise. Luluk/Alven are awful. I think it is time for them to split or withdraw from the squad. PBSI should consider sending Gunawan/Riyadi more. The WD is improving a lot. They used to be just grounded at home, but nowadays they show that they can compete in the 6* tournaments. Job well done so far, but they still need to practice more in order to break the Chinese domination.
Agree...it's about time to send Hendra A. Gunawan/Joko Riyadi considering the fact that Hendra is already 24 years old, definitely not a junior anymore! Rizal/Gresya are only 20/19 respectively and they do have the time to become a strong XD pair.
They are already out of Pelatnas, so, I am not considering them as part of the team. The same goes for Rian Sukmawan/Eng Hian.
remind me again why eng hian and flandy split up? is it because eng hian was chucked out of pelatnas? anyways, i think indonesia's singles looks bleak, and apart from markis/hendra, so does their doubles ... in fact, if malaysia did not have LCW, our MS would be non-existent ... i think they should organise a sort of ryder cup event, except it's the rest of the world against china, both for mens and ladies. i'm sure the men will stand a chance, but i'm not convinced that if we put the best ladies from around the world (yes, even the former chinese now playing for other countries), they would be able to dent the great wall!
Err...I think the MD and XD do have some good backup pairs. I have watched these pairs play lately and their quality is pretty solid. So, I am not too worried
OK, I see. Then, it is up to PBSI to get more talented players into the international circuits to fill the position of MS and MD and it has to be fast. I think BAM has done a better job than PBSI in this matter. At least now Malaysia is having 4 to 5 MD pairs including the veterans in the top ten world rankings.
How does the Ryder Cup differ from the team championships such as the Sudirman/Thomas/Uber Cup events?
dunno, i haven't really been convinced with INA's MD recently. well, we'll see at the WC. hopefully no one (from any country) will make any excuses there if they don't perform ...
well, the ryder cup for golf is europe against america. that's because i don't think any one country can beat america by itself. just like china at the moment, winning both the TC and the UC easily this year (well, the UC was almost a forgone conclusion). the other team championships you mentioned pitted 1 country against another ...
you can read all abt it here in this link: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30088&highlight=eng+hian+fired
For NOW, INA's MD only has Kido/Setiawan to depend on. They have Gunawan/Riyadi and another pair called...Yoga/somebody. I'm not sure who, but they have not been sent to a lot of tournaments. I heard they were doing well in satellite tournaments, but I'm not very sure about this. I think it does not matter how well they perform in Satellites. In the end, people they are going to fight against with in Thomas Cup, Uber Cup and Sudirman Cup are not playing in the Satellite Tourneys. The prospect for this year's WC is bleak for Indonesia. I read somewhere that their long-term goal is Thomas Cup, Uber Cup and Sudirman Cup. Apparently they are training the players really hard for stamina. Rumour is it is just like military boot camp. I hope they can somehow pull it through, but apart from Kido/Setiawan and Widianto/Natsir, I can't see other players advancing to quarterfinal. We will see about that in WC. Indonesia tends to perform well when they are under pressure. We have tons of promising young players, but they simply disappear along the way. In other word, the regeneration is very slow. Another thing I heard is attitude problem. A lot of senior players in National Training Camp are having bad attitude problem like skipping practice, etc. I won't name any name here, but you should be able to guess one of them. That's why they sent new recruits to a military boot camp for 40 days as part of their initiation. They said it is to give them the right attitude and discipline.
NO! Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya have long left the Pelatnas (national team), therefore, I do not consider them as part of the team. The same goes to Rian Sukmawan and Eng Hian.
