In MD, I believe all the quarter finalists have never won Premier SS before and never won All England. The only player who have won major tournament is Hendra but with a different partner. Hendra said he never won AE and determined to win it this year
You missed FuCai dropping out on walkover. This surely blows everyone's PAWs out of the water. Still the sure money is on Ahsan/Setiawan to take md title, given how well they've done at MO
So none of them have ever won any SS-Premier title, let alone any All-England? That's very interesting.. Wonder who would consider that it's a Big-Disappointment..
It's good opportunity for other players but it's a disappointment if we won't get to see top quality badminton in the semi-finals and finals. Are top players dropping AE2013 to focus on another upcoming tournament?
The Chinese has a very clever strategy where they allow a process of regeneration to allow younger or new players move up onto the international stage while resting the more experienced and established players, particularly since these players such as Lin Dan, Cai/Fu, Wang Yihan, Li Xueri are already accomplished. Tournaments such as the German Open, All-England & the French Open would serve as an excellent arena to expose the young Chinese players and to help them gain experience. The thing most commendable about the Chinese approach is that they are not "title-hungry"; i.e. they don't go out there to desperately grab every single title available - only the major ones (such as the Olympic Games, Thomas/Uber Cup, Sudirman Cup, Asian Championship), and the All-England is not of them. The Chinese seems to view the All-England as the same statue as other European tournaments such as the German, French and Swiss Open. It appears that the All-England Championship is and will slowly losing its luster over the years - only the British, the Scottish, the Europeans, the Indians and some parts of the American continent would continue to hold it in such high regard and pride.
You're dreaming buddy! There is never such a history or story saying that All England Championship is not a major! I would say All-England Championship is a dream of every badminton players? Do you see Lin Dan interested playing in Malaysia? While he seems enjoying 5 times champion at the All-England. A lost is a lost. I don't think CHN squad will let go such a prestigious tournament to other country... You can also see from player's attendance. Even world number 31 or 32 sometimes must enter the qualification to play at the All-England showing how competitive this tournament is.
I think China after the unprecedented,historic clean sweep of the London Olympics golds felt they have reached the apex of badminton supremacy, the more so when you include similar stellar achievements in the world championships, Thomas/Uber Cups, all the majors according to them. In fact, they've established records which they know only they can surpass at present. Even Li Yongbo is a changed,mellowed man in the sense that he is no longer as demanding of his coaches and players as before, giving the whole team a well-deserved break post-Olympics and a nine-day Spring Festival holiday as well as allowing Lin Dan a long leave. He has also become more accepting or tolerant of his elite players underperforming somewhat more often than not to the extent of finding excuses for LXR previously (not sure how he'd react this time to the shocking first round exits of his top players though). After reading tsae75's post, I've to admit what he wrote sounds plausible as possibly reflecting CBA's present stance. I'm afraid, the AE is no longer one of the majors to CBA, at least to LYB based on what he has said before the start of the tournament as reported here http://sports.qq.com/a/20130306/000184.htm . Don't be mistaken,he said nothing negative about the AE, just that it's not the same level as the Olympics or World Championships to them, and emphasized the importance of doing more to promote the sport and interest more people to take up the game, which they are striving to do. Personally, I still have a soft spot for the All England.
The bottom line is that the current Chinese squad is capable of sweeping all the titles if they really want to; and particularly so if the All-England Championship is really such a prestigious tournament as you have asserted. They could do this by scheduling their training program to allow all their players to peak during this period and clean-sweep all the medals (both gold & silver). But is this what the European crowd want to see? People like you? Look at the blood-thirsty Danish crowd, booing at every opportunity they have at the Chinese when their own Carsten & Boe are the ultimate crooks of gamesmanship. So by saying "a lost is a lost" is a fallacy because the Chinese are really not so "title-hungry" after the London Olympics.
You seriously mean to say the CHN team was holidaying for the last one and a half month doing no trainings and the German Open they went their & won it cause they gave German Open more value??? A loss is not a pain to WYH? man have u not seen her crying before? for LXR or for any CHN player for that matter I wont blame or question their integrity like this... yes they can have an off day, their opponents can play better than them at least once in a while if not always[] And since when China dropped giving importance to AE championships... may be from this year but certainly not from the participation per se like they do to some other tournaments.... which they actually dont rate high enough, they dont even go!! And their top players are losing because they are no title hungry or they want to groom their younger players.... I thought the CHN strategy would have been to clear their way up by forfeiting matches/getting injured or stomachaches by dringking cold water [Don't think they could afford serving to nets now] We should give the dues to those who deserve it, the rank outsiders if they create an upset they should be praised for it, coz its their hardwork unless the opponents forfeit the match or leaves it, they have worked hard to deserve this as well. the next time it may happen or not thats a different thing!!
That's ridiculous statement at best. china's team has clean sweep AE title in the past, non Olympic year as well. How come suddenly it's not important? Besides, the only signficant losses are the 2 top WS and the top MD. Everyone else is still in progressing as expected. Is it so hard for you to accept those lost their games to better players?
To me, the All-England Championship 2013 is a great success because Mogensen & Boe got booted out of the tournament by the little known Chinese pair of Liu Xiaolong & Qiu Zihan, and that Boe got smacked in his face by his beloved partner, Mogensen. Classic!! One of the best moments in badminton for me.
That makes sense then. Dully noted that you're just a disgruntled china's fan, grumbling and pouting for their lost .
Basically, the Chinese, after the London Olympics, has learnt that winning is important but it is not everything in sports or life. They have already proven to the world in the Beijing 2008 Olympics that they are a power house to be reckoned with and now as a nation, it is time for them to take a step back; reflect and reap a little benefit of their hard work over the last 3-4 decades - not be so hard on themselves anymore going forward. I see a nation maturing as it gains strength from any of its defeats and that's the spirit of sports.
Based on the article i read http://sports.people.com.cn/n/2013/0307/c22155-20711933.html Li Yongbo said that he does not really pressure and emphasize much on the all-england result. According to him, they are in the process of doing an overall assessment on all of its players within the team
If they think the Chinese doesn't care about the title, why bother send players to England to compete? Specifically current top Chinese players? There're many ways to avoid it, for example paying the fine for not competing at the major.... Financial wise, I don't think Chinese team has a problem, they're funded well. OR They can just send their players to 'chill' at the All England, enjoy first set win, then retire all at the first round! Would that be wonderful if they really don't care about the title?
I have the impression in the past two or three years the all england has tried to phase out Lin Dan and feature Lee Chong Wei heavily in its web site and promotion materials. Surprisingly, this year, when Lin Dan didn't actually show up, the all england has put Lin Dan everywhere in its promotions and focused much less on Lee Chong Wei, although he's the star player for Yonex.
i plotted some graphs of the country distribution in QF and SF stages for 2012/2013. interesting trend? for QF, China dropped from 14 to 9 spots with most of the slack picked up by Indonesia. but the biggest improvement seems to be Thailand with 5 spots in 2013 vs zero in 2012. on the tail side, a few countries swapped spaces but didn't affect the diversity much. for SF, China dropped 3 spots and Korea dropped 2 spots. these got picked up by Thailand and Indonesia again.
