what a prediction! so accurate on MS part. Without LD, CJ and LCW's gone, Taufik and Bao come out strong! Some people suggested me to swap Taufik and Boonsak..., and most people think Taufik is not good as before. But I think differently. I think Taufik even stronger than 2 years ago. Even though he did won Olympics and WC, but he had been defeated easily in early rounds by anyone at that time. In the so called "Taufik peak time", he was thought good only because of his big mouth, arrogant attitude and recklessness. Even he claimed he could win at time as he wanted to, but most case he simply didn't want pass the early rounds. But now, look at Taufik again, especially after became his own boss, managed everything himself instead of PBSI, his performance has been much more stable than before, he's attitude has changed also. He's really becoming a pro. It's always being difficult for TH wining outside Indonesia before, he seldom won a match in 3 games. He was a IBF event specialist, not a true pro in his "peak time", because what he won, OG and WC, were IBF event and small scaled for selected players. He has not won any open tournament in Europe yet. But now, everything has changed, he's becoming a better person, his performance are much more stable, he can win anywhere without geographic limitation, even his ranking position is much higher than that in his "peak time". Today, he's ready to win his first super series title! Good for him. Wang YH was a little bit underrated. Simon, NTM should be included in the list. Here is the updated power ranking in the mid of JO: MS: (1) Lin Dan (2) Lee CW (3) Chen Jin, Taufik, Bao CL (6) Sony, Simon, NTM (9) Park, Gade, Boonsak, ... WS: (1) Lu Lan, Wang Shixian (3) Wang Xin, Wang YiHan, Wang Lin (6) Xie XF, Zhou Mi, Jiang YJ, Tine Rasmussen,...
IMO, Taufik is better than last year, but not 2007. Even though he wasn't winning in 2007, he was still defeating LCW or being a severe threat (2007 China Masters for example, 2007 Japan Open)...2008 he was just awful until after the olympics where he did amazingly in the 2008 french open.
just right after defeating NTM in the semin, but before the other semi between Simon and Taufik, Bao CL was asked by journalists whom he like to play in the final? Bao CL said, he would like to play Taufik, because it's much more enjoyable playing with Taufik every time before. When I wrote "who's hot, who's not" after China master, I almost listed Bao CL as the most "who's not". Both Bao CL and Wang YH have played under par for quite long time until this Japan open. here's updated power ranking: MS: (1) Lin Dan (2) Lee CW (3) Bao CL (4) Chen Jin (5) Taufik, (6) Sony (7) Park, Gade, Boonsak, Simon, NTM... WS: (1) Lu Lan, Wang YiHan, Wang Shixian (4) Wang Xin, Wang Lin (6) Xie XF, Zhou Mi, Jiang YJ, Tine Rasmussen,... Wang YiHan now has turned herself from "not" to "hot"!
