WC 2003 analysis

Re: WC 2003 post analysis

Hmm... what do you mean?

 

China dominate badminton set

BRUCE MCHENRY


CHINA claimed three of the five titles at badminton’s World Badminton in Birmingham. They took the men’s singles when Xia Xuanze added the world crown to his 2000 All England title, won in the same National Indoor Arena when he beat Malaysia’s Wong Choong Hann 15-6, 13-15, 15-6 in an 86-minute battle.

"I’m so excited, I am lost for words," reflected Xia. "When I got to 8-6 in the third, it increased my confidence and I felt I could go on from there."

He added that he had refused to be put off by the loss of the second set: "With the years of experience, you can learn how to deal with situations like this.

"In such circumstances, you can make mistakes but the main thing is to be calm."

Second seed Zhang Ning beat defending champion Gong Ruina 11-6, 11-3 in an all- Chinese women’s singles final which lasted just 44 minutes.

In the women’s doubles, third seeds Gao Ling and Huang Sui retained their crown in an all-Chinese final, securing a 15-8, 15-11 win over Wei Yili and Zhao Tingting.

And China missed out on the opportunity to claim a fourth title in the mixed doubles.

Olympic and defending champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling, the top seeds, lost 15-7, 15-8 to Korea’s Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min, the pair they beat in Seville two years ago.

The Badminton Association of England, staging the championships for the second time in ten years, hailed the tournament as a success.

Chief executive Stephen Baddeley declared: "We want more big events. We would like to stage the Thomas and Uber Cup fina

 

Still too disappointed with Choong Hann's loss...

He could have done it but for some reason, he pulled his punches and played safe. I was there since quaterfinals and his march to the finals was very impressive, especially the way he tore apart Sony. If he had played like that against Xia, I am sure he would have won. Instead, he opted for the safe way. Instead of using his airborne attacks, he chose to drop, slice and crosscourt. That method of play needs high level of concentration and accuracy all the time, he should have mixed it up with lethal smashes and attacks as well.

On the other hand, Xia was using his usual attacking flair. If not for Choong Hann's solid defense and unbelievable reflexes, he would have been beaten in straight sets.

Also, the other countries have to realise that to match the Chinese, you not only have to have quality, but quantity as well. Anyone of the 4 Chinese MS could have won the title, the fact that they could choose who to enter finals to play Choong Hann does not bode well for the longevity of the game. Furthermore, with the rise of their doubles (especially Cai Yun and Fu HaiFeng), the rest of the badminton super powers can kiss the Thomas Cup good bye (if we don't buck-up) for another 2-3 editions. My god, Cai Yun and Fu HaiFeng are really really good. I just could not believe my eyes when they were playing Chandra and Sigit. If not for lady luck deserting them in the rubber, I won't be surprised if they would have gone on to win the MD as well. However, well done to Jonas and Laarse for winning it.

As for Malaysian MD, we are no where near the standard on display. We could not even smell the dust left behind. Chan / Chew's display was a disgrace in the quaterfinals, they were playing like a couple of school boys. After leading 10 - 3 in the rubber, their brains just fled and everything fell apart. Thank god they loss there and not further humiliate themselves and the country with Jonas and Laarse in the semis. I have no more respet for them after that display, needless to say for Choong and Lee, they were already hanging around the airport waiting to go home.

All in all, well done for Choong Hann, but deep down in my heart, I was secretly hoping that Hafiz could accompanied Choong Hann as well and not left him to face the Chinese wall alone.

 

Free thunderstix

Yeah, our group must have gone through about 30 of the damn things. (We where trying to make as much noise on our side of the hall cos all the nutters where in blocks 8-10 on the other side).

Give another year or two & Cai Yun and Fu HaiFeng are gonna be world champs.
They're huge & have the power but what really impressed was their reflex speed.
They where giving Chandra & Sigit a good battle but I reckon it was their inexperience that lost it for them.
Final's where nail biting depending but I have to say We all got a bad feeling that the danish win was on the cards. C&S just seemd to be struggling to get back the serve whilst J&L seemed to break back easily.

Drop the Womens double back to 11. They had really good rallys but after a while all the women where faffing around & slowing the game down so much it got boring.
China fixing matches? ? nah . . . never. . . They where going full tilt in the 2nd set. . . Honest. . . .Ummmm.
Only good thing was that I could get up & have a break from 9 hours of sitting in crap NIA seating.

Xia/Wong final was a class. Xia's reaction seemed genuine when compared to Lars Paaske who after picking himself off the ground, ran around for a bit then conveniently knelt down & curled up right in front of the mass of camera's
I'm sure that they where ecstatic but I reckon they where trying to outdo Xia's reaction.

P.S. Have to agree with another posters thread, Zhou Mi's Red outfit did catch my eye. but I reckon japan's Kanako Yonekura does it for me

 

I have an idea, split the world champs into womens and mens, the womens events can be held in china with only chinese entries, save me having to sit through all the china v china matches

 

Too bad, I am in the US and did not get a chance to see any of the games.
Does anyone knows if videos for WC2003 are available ? I hate to miss all the excitements of watching the tournament.

 

you can watch live in 2005 alan!

 

Wizbit,

did you mean that they changed shirts right in front of the crowd?? That would be quite a ahem..... show.

Haven't seen ZM's red outfit though, but hearing from all of you folks who seen it, it sounds to be pretty tight!

 

For three evenings, from around 7 pm to mostly past midnight, I sat in front of my TV to watch Channel 23's (ESPN) live coverage of the WC Badminton from the Quarter Finals onwards. It was pure delight!

During the Finals, Koreans Kim & Ra were simply dominant in the XD and there was no way the Chinese pairing of Zhang & Gao could prevail; the relatively new Danish partnership of Paarske & Rasmussen, despite their inexperience displayed much better speed and power, and thoroughly deserved their 3-game win over Candra & Sigit in the MD, with Sigit looking a poor shadow of himself all bandaged up to prevent further injuries to his limbs. Zhang Ning, already 28 years old, paid scant respect to her younger opponents, except for Camila Martin who is 29, and showed what a true and committed athlete should be made of and walloped them pitifully in straight games to take the WS title. Yes, the all-Chinese WD Finals might have seemed a drag, but despite their familiarity with one another as they trained together, they delighted the audience with their long rallies and no-nonsense attitude, with the more experienced Gao Ling and Huang Sui prevailing in 2 games.

But my heart really goes to Wong Choon Hann of Malaysia who really impressed throughout. He has trained hard and certainly deserved his silver medal but he could have won the gold and created Malaysian badminton history had he been less cautious and more aggressive and put more venom in his smashes against the eventual winner, Xia Xuanze of China. Wong made three bad line decisions thinking that the shuttle would have gone out. Unlike Xia, he didn't dare to take much risks and seize the opportunities when they present themselves. But having lost on 7 previous occasions, I was told, Wong was psychologically a defeated man from the start. Mental steelness and resolve is what he is still lacking, it would appear.

 

I missed watching Zhou Mi play and....her outfit. Anyone has any photos or sites with photos of her in her...umm...outfit?