“I was pushing the pace but not getting points, and I didn’t know what to do. I went a bit blank. He has an allround game, he plays according to the opponent, he can vary the game whenever he wants to. The main thing is you have to be mentally fit against him. He has a lot of patience and a lot of variations.” – Sai Praneeth, after losing to Kento Momota.
So far, Antonsen's defense has been very good. And he has been playing the net well. When Antonsen beat Momota early this year, he also matched Momota's net play, which is rare, because Momota has the best tight net play in the world right now.
KW forced to go for the lines and be meticulous, thereby increasing the risk of error, thanks to AA's superb retrieving
Considering Ander's improvement this year and the fact that he beat KM last time they met, I do believe that he has a pretty good chance at winning tomorrow Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
Both Sai Praneeth and Kantaphon were not in the list of many . But they came and slowly and steadily eliminated many seeded players and got the Bronze. Kudos to them. They both lost to better players. So, No worries. Keep working hard and get the results.
Imo, Denmark has the fittest coaches.. haha. Congrats Antonson. He has the game to beat Momota. Play hard. Train harder.
So what I liked about Antonsen today and yesterday is that he is outplaying his opponent at the net, has excellent defense, and was fairly consistent. Tomorrow when he plays Momota, he needs to match or outplay Momota at the net (not easy because Momota is #1 at tight net shots), he needs the same defense that he had against Chen Long and Kantophon, and he needs to maintain his consistency. And lastly, Antonsen needs to maintain his focus and mental game against Momota. When Antonsen beat Momota earlier this year in Indonesia, he did everything that I cited above. And more impressive, Antonsen beat Momota without a coach. If Antonsen can repeat his run of form in the last two matches against Chen Long and Kantophon, and if Antonsen can find the magic that allowed him to beat Momota earlier this year, then I think Antonsen has a chance of beating Momota.
Ashan and Setiawan never lost at the WC. That's incredible. Will it come an end today? I hope not. Play hard. Train harder.
Happy for Sindhu. Sad for Sai. Sindhu is in the finals like I expected. I have this feeling that this time it's gold for Sindhu. But Nozomi isn't an easy opponent. I thought Ratchanok will probably win because of the way she played in the first set. But Nozomi beat her with pure stamina. The Japanese players have such immense stamina. Where do they get it from? For Sai, the scoreline does not reflect the difference between the 2 players. The 11-10 score at mid game 1 interval was probably a fairer reflection. Sai was nervous, impatient and lost focus. His record against Momota was actually 2-3, which is not that bad But overall good tournament from Sai. Ya, where is Siril now?
KW, like Chen Long, relies a bit too much on his physicality unlike AA whose physicality is strong but he has also improved his technical skills significantly. Yes, based on this match and yesterday's, Anders Antonsen is indeed the one here with the best chance of toppling the reigning world champion tomorrow. Still, AA must bear in mind KM is a different proposition from the rest here; first, he won't get that many attacking opportunities and, second, he would have to keep guessing KM's shots more than usual. If AA continues in this vein in the final and plays freely with the underdog mentality, we are in for a treat. Also AA doesn't carry any baggage, mental burden or psychological disadvantage as beset his senior teammate,Viktor Axelsen. I'm looking forward to it. The likely outcome? 50-50 and that says a lot about Anders Antonsen's chances to unseat KM from his throne.
