History! First BWC gold for Singapore! Congratulations LKY! Just days ago people were wishing LKY less heavy draw. I recalled listening an interview podcast with him before, but I don't remember what it was. He seems nice and a likeable person. I hope he won't be burdened by the title & far from injury. KS almost pushed a rubber. Great fight, reminded me why he was a WR1. Silver ain't bad, not at all. Congrats for all the champions and medallists for all categories. Especially Dechapol/Sapsiree, Chen/Jia, Yamaguchi, Hoki-Kobayashi, LKY. Though I'm pretty disappointed that every single match today was a straight set.
Well yes. Let me explain. Once LKY got going it was obvious that he would win. But Kidambi kept pushing the limits and showed a very nice play. He tried to control his usual behaviours and kept calm as much as possible. Unfortunately, he made to many mistakes.
It’s multi factorial but for some people, it’s just the one piece of a puzzle that makes everything fit in. I would like to think that training with Viktor gave an insight on how much work is needed to get that extra 2-3% improvement in performance. Or even, it showed LKY how close he was to the very top and gave him the confidence.
This reminds me of 2011 WC when Morten said LCW is the better player, but the other commentator said but LD is champion. Morten had no reply to that
If training with Axelsen is the main reason, then why didn't other players who were also in the camp became like LKY. I believe Mulyo has a bigger role to play.
It simply doesn't make any good sense to declare the loser as the better player. They are al nervous and tired. A much more experienced player making a lot of errors simply mean that he is not good enough. conceptually, I don't see how in the world can a player be a very good player but makes 21 errors in a set for 2 sets. Making too many errors is a fundamental flaw.
Congrats LKY, great use of the rare opportunity to win a WC title. Held his nerve very well for a first timer, better than SK. I think LKY is too dependent on his speed in winning points. He doesn’t show that great tactical awareness (SK was doing those half smashes from the first point and LKY still kept falling for it). His shots lack depth more frequently than other top players e.g backhand clears. And his choice of shots expose him a lot defensively. I’m sure other players will figure him out in no time. He made the most of this opportunity though, good job world champion
That was one of the most crucial errors that Srikanth made. Had Srikanth won that point, I think he would have won the gold.
Loh has had a great tournament, but it would be difficult to claim that he controlled the flow of the match today. It was Kidambi's game to lose, and lose he did, ... through countless errors, many of them unforced. That fact notwithstanding, his racquet work and tactics were a pure delight to watch. A really nice match; shame it didn't go to three games.
Yes, this is key! The coaches and other top players have not figured out LKY yet. LKY skyrocketed this tournament and the coaches and other top players have not fully analyzed his weaknesses yet. Compare this to TTY in 2017 when she skyrocketed to #1. What did TTY do in 2017? She skipped the WC to play in the Universaide in Taiwan, lol. And the irony is, TTY's other Taiwan national team teammates opted to play in the WC over the Universaide in Taiwan. Fast forward 4 years later, and TTY has not won an Olympic gold or WC gold yet. Part of the reason why she hasn't won? I believe it's because some of the top players and coaches have figured out her game, and use it against her in the Olympic and WC finals. I'm sure TTY's nerves also get to her in the finals of the Olympics or WC. But there is no doubt that the other top players and coaches know of her weaknesses too, and it makes it harder for TTY to win an Olympic or WC gold. We will see what happens to LKY over the next few years. LKY might win more WC and Olympic titles, even if other players and coaches are able to better analyze his game (even for LD after 2008, it became harder for him to win, look at how LCW generally closed the gap with LD after 2008). But it definitely helps when the top players and coaches have not fully analyzed your game yet and don't know what are your weaknesses.
That’s... a weird statement to say. Winning a point that isn’t even game point in G2 makes one player win gold?
Hardly heard or seen pictures of Mulyo training our top players. The local coach, Kelvin Ho, has been seen at various tournaments giving tips to LKY and YJM. Kelvin has once played for Singapore.
Psychology matters. After mid-game interval in game 2, Srikanth was playing better than LKY. But he made unforced errors at crucial moments. Had he managed to win that point, he would have likely won the game. And had he won the game, he would be in a better position to win the next as well. He was starting to read LKY better.
Only TTY knows why she skipped the WC in 2017. All I can say is that many of TTY's other Taiwan teammates skipped the Universaide in Taiwan to compete in the WC instead. You can see the WC 2017 player list year and all the Taiwan players that played in it: https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/players.aspx?id=4A6A351C-463C-4229-8233-F7459FAD92B5. Even CTC opted to play in the WC 2017 over the Taiwan Universaide. This was TTY's decision to skip the WC in 2017, one that she may regret forever because she has never won an Olympic or WC title.
