Yeah, Fu/Cai are (IMHO) gonna be China's top MD pair very shortly. I think a top 8 finish or higher would be ideal and realistic for them. Cai did great at SC2003 paired up with Zhang Wei. Here's another tidbit regarding Cai: he used to be a singles player and changed to doubles in recent years. He has found more success as MD than MS!!
fyi, my comments were made before the draw was released. So, it may not make any sense when the actual duel matchings are out.
I did NOT know you can predict that much before the draw. Well, even it was before the draw, I do not know the base let you make such prediction about Cai/Fu. In recent tournaments, Cai/Fu MD have beaten MD players such as : Pramote TEERAWIWATANA (THA), Tesana PANVISVAS (THA) (Thai Open) Jens ERIKSEN (DEN), Martin LUNDGAARD HANSEN (DEN) (China Open) Wei ZHANG (CHN), Jun ZHANG (CHN) (China Open) Cai Yun/Zhang Wei won over Candra WIJAYA (INA), Sigit BUDIARTO (INA) in Sudirman cup 2003. Consider they are so young, they are still growing and improving, and since they are seeded, they will not play Kim/Ha or other good players at 1st round, why you think they will be eliminated in 1st round still puzzled me.
yo.... i missed out all the discussion. i had to be at home sleeping... just went through them. here are my (worthless) comments on each event: MD: top quarter - good draw for top see Kim/Ha. not much resistance till Chan/Chew. Chan/Chew has to duke it out with Robertson/Clark first. neither pairing should be much of a problem for Kim/Ha second quarter - our friend Jonas got a pretty good draw, the only resistance would be Sogaard/Lamp & Pramote/Tesena. otherwise, he should advance to semi! third quarter - the only two pairs that matters are Cai Yun/Fu Haifung and Eriksen/Lundgaard . the Chinese has been on closed door training for the past 3 months, i wonder how much improvement they've made? 4th quarter - this is the most screwed up one. the top half should be easy sail for Kim/Yim. but the bottom half, Candra/Sigit is facing Choong/Lee on first round, and then Lee/Yoo on the 3rd round! i think the pairs in the 4th quarter got pretty bad draws.
WD: these gals got the easy draws, not much resistance till the semi-final: 1st quarter - Wei Yili/Zhao TT 2nd quarter - Mia/Lotte 4th quarter - Rikke/Ann-Lou the 3rd quarter : Ra/Lee facing YangW/ZhangJW in 3rd round, then face GaoL/HuangS on 4th round. Ra/Lee got pretty bad draw from their perspective. they'd have faced all their worthy (ie. Chinese) competitions on their way (if they make it). Rikke/Ann-Lou next, and then WeiYL/ZhaoTT.
XD: 1st quarter - ZhangJ/GaoL should face Tricky Trikus/Ermawati at the quarter final. 2nd quarter - Jonas's only resistance would be Simon Archer on the first game. good luck Jonas! 3rd quarter - Chen QiQiu/ZhangTT vs. Nova/Vita on 3rd round. and then winner goes on to play robertson/emms. this is time for the English pair to tell the world if they were worthy of the number one spot for so long... 4th quarter - if no surprises Kim/Ra will be facing Eriksen/Schjoldager in quarter final. Mette has improved a lot in recent years, but i don't think anybody can beat an in form Ra... we will have to see...
Nice time to show up, Kwun! All of us are gone and have exhausted our rantings and here you're ready to chat! But you're right though, JR looks to have favorable position in the draws and can advance far in both MD and XD. Even though he's facing Archer in 2nd round in MD, Archer is paired with a Socttish player I've never heard of. What happened to Archer's regular partner, Anthony Clark?? Aaaargh, only 10 days left till launch..... can't wait.
Joey_y, Put it this way. I agree that Cai/Fu has been the giant killers for the past 12 months in the circuit. No doubt about that. However, like you said they are still "so young", and will you be able to guarantee that they will not crumble in a big 7* tournament like this? Due to the screwed-up ranking system, there were several good pairs who failed to secure a seeding, like Chan/Chew, Choong/Lee or even the HK pair of Njoto AS/Liu KW who could be as good as them. If they are lucky enough, Cai/Fu may have drawn into one of this pair in the 1st round (that was my thought before the draw is out) to prove your faith in them. However, it is so unfortunate that they have drawn against far weaker pairs in earlier rounds and their first worthy opponents will only be seen in the last 8 - Jens/Martin. I did not say that they WILL be bundled out. Refer to my posting again - I used the word MIGHT instead of WILL. whizkelv
Actually how old is Cai Yun? If I'm not wrong, he has been in the circuit at least for the past 3-4 years, as I remembered that he played one of the Malaysian player, either Ong EH, Yong HK or Wong CH in one tournament (probably China Open) and upset them. That was several years ago. Not surprising for a former singles player to achieve greater success in doubles, as we have seen the likes of Bambang Suprianto doing well in the mid 90s also.
everything at this point are just educated guesses. i don't believe we have the ability to predict what will happen in the future, ie. who will win. but none the less, it is fun to talk about it.
MS draw must have been made in the heavens by Guan Yin for Chen Hong or Wong Choon Han, this has to be their best ever opportunity to win as champs. Whoever emerges from the fracas in lower half must be too fatigued to play either of them.
Haha... coincidentally it was Guan Yin's birthday yesterday when the draw was made. Not really easy for Wong CH as he still has Peter Gade for company in his quarter, and he has quite poor record with the Dane.
I spoke to a fellow badminton afficionado about the draw yesterday, telling him about the opponents which the Malaysians will be facing. His response was a grin with his head shaking...
my guesses Mixed: JR and Rikke shouldn't have much truoble getting past Archer and into the semi I can't see Nathan &* Gail getting past the winners of Chen Qiqiu&Zhao Tingting / Nova Widianto&Vita Marissa Mens Doubles: Ha&Kim v some Danes in semifinal 1 Jens Eriksen&Martin Lundgaard v whoever gets through the bottom quarter (Candra&Sigit maybe) Mens Singles: pretty open except Chen Hong has the easier quarter and half THe bottom half looks like a warzone
Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah vs Chandra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto on the FIRST round. I don't think this is one small fight here. They may have a chance. As for Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng vs Kim Dong Moon - Ha Tae Kwon (IF they make it this far, that is), I hope they would put up a good fight, or even beat the Koreans. I'd be truly disappointed if they lose tamely. I'd be jolly happy if they win though!
