the Badminton Central Discussion Forum is back, *improved*! apologies for the down time, I was planning to have this running before the Olympics, but unfortunately, workload didn't allow me to do that. anyway, i transferred the old messages over to the new software. everything looks good right now. please let me know if you have problems with it. i hope everyone had a great time following the Olympics! China really surprised everybody, and pity for Denmark who only got one medal out of the whole thing. kwun
Thanks for keeping the site running. You are providing a real service to badminton fans, especially during the Olympics, even if the discussion group wasn't active. The links to other good sites gave us North American fans results on time, which of course we would not have gotten from TV in any case. There were a lot of China surprises, even some for Li Yong Bo, I think. For example, it looked as though Xia Xuanze was expected to be the main chance for a men's singles medal, and no one expected Ji Xinpeng to be the star. Xia did look good in the Thomas Cup and showed a lot of quickness and had some unusual shots. I think his unforced errors will become fewer and fewer. Do you think Denmark's players try to hit winners too soon and close out a rally quickly? It seems that way to me. Several times they have been beaten by patient opponents who were willing to wait for a better chance to hit a winner. Could this be a problem with their coaching? Anyway, what do I know? marshall
Peter Gade definately has a small margin of error is his game. It's great to watch and it is certainly exciting to see if he can maintain that accuracy under tense matches. Have u seen the S/F Thomas cup between Denmark and Indonesia? It was great stuff. Way to go Kwun. Hope to see ya again.........we gotta get some serious badminton going!
Marshall, thanks for the support! it is great to know that this site is being appreciated by the badminton fans out there! definitely, Ji was a surprise, but the bigger surprise is unargueably Zhang/Gao. who'd expect them to beat Kim/Ra? honestly, that's something that even Liu/Ge haven't been able to do. Kim has amazing coverage at the back of the court, and Ra is extremely fast and smart at the net. i wish i was able to watch the match. i woke up that morning, logged on and looked at the result, and i just didn't believe my eyes. i didn't get to watch the Gade match. but Camilla has the reputation of being very impatient. when she starts losing, she's like a avalanche. she has the skills but unfortunately she doesn't have the right mental strength and calmness to win. Gong does. we've seen in numerous occasions, when Gong is in her form, she give 100% concentration on the game, and she fights.
Cheung, yeah, hopefully i'll get to go back to HK in Christmas, not 100% sure though. i hardly have enough time to play badminton these days. after not playing for 3 weeks. i went and played for 4 hours straight last weekend, almost no rest. the day after, my muscles was so sore i had trouble walking, i had to use my arm to help me sit down coz my legs muscles were aching so much! kwun
Kwun, Try stretching immediately after play while you're still warm and before sitting down. If you wait to sit down the chaor will feel so good you won't want to get up and stretch at all. I live 45 min. away from the gym and if I don't stretch I will hardly be able to walk from the car to the house. A good book is "Stretching" by Bob Anderson, available in paperback. It's recommended by Coach Don Paup and well worth the $17 to $20. Cheung, I did see the Danish-Indonesian semifinal on tape, and agree that it was great. The most amusing part was the shot of a large group of Chinese fans cheering for Denmark ( I don't blame them, considering the high quality Indonesian play). No more badminton for me until Friday. Maybe I'll practice by backhand stroke in the yard if it doesn't rain. marshall
