Shame to Hafiz, the only reason he got that far is because of a good draw, BAM should reconsider sending him to Asian Game as he doesn't deserve. Send someone else who can gain valuable experience and have potential. Even Beng Hong looks better than Hafiz now, how long can badminton Malaysia go
I'm so depressed. Taufik out, Peter out, three chinese in the semis and probably an all Chinese final. When will the rest of the world produce the quantity and quaility that the chinese do? Bring on the Ryder cup. Go Europe!
Anyway,we do gain something in this WC...Look at KBH..he has prove to us that he is back...Look at the match between him and CJ and just imagine he is just transfered to Li Mao in a several months...
MAS need to nurture more single player. Cant put all hope on LCW, HH and etc. China have many good players where they can easily take up all semi final slots in any tournament.
So tomorrow MS China strategy is simple and IBF should play Lin Dan vs Chen Hong ahead of the showdown between Lee Hyun Il vs Bao Chunlai else if Lee happen to win and play ahead of Lin Dan vs Chen Hong then Chen Hong will go default citing injury and let Lin Dan win as Lin Dan will almost certainly beat Lee(higher percentage). Give team China credit, they fought high with high spirit.
Come back for a while before watching the XD and MD later on. What a disappointing match earlier on...seems like the English pairs have a grip over the INA pairs...with 3 victories already over Kido/Hendra and Luluk/Alvent this year. Don't forget, Clark/Blair also beat Candra/Sigit last year The match was delayed probably as a tactic by the English pair to disrupt Kido/Hendra's concentration. It worked! Kido made many errors today...and they were quickly trailing 3-8. However, they managed to regain their composure and levelled the score at 8-8. They inched ahead 11-9 at the interval and there was no coming back as they stormed ahead to take the first set 21-15. The second set was a little tight at the beginning, with the INA pair trailing 10-11 at the interval. However, the English pair began to find their bearings and string a couple of successive points to make the score 15-11. Kido/Hendra were also affected by the drafts as they make a lot of unforced errors They ended up losing 16-21. The third set was in INA's pair control till the score was 12-9 and they were again affected by the drafts after the interval. The score was level at 17-17 before the INA's pair committed 2 crucial errors...long return and bad judgement. The English pair, Anthony Clark/Robert Blair sealed the match 21-17. The problem with these young pairs is that they are very good when they are attacking (like in the first set). However, once the attacks fail to materialize, they made too many unforced errors (the second set and second half of the third set). Anyway, Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan remain the best prospect that Pelatnas has at the moment. Age is on their side (22 yo) and they should mature by the time the Olympics come in 2 years. Pelatnas should think about sending more of its young pairs like Hendra Gunawan/Joko Riyadi, Yoga Uki Kasah/Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki and Frans Kurniawan/Rendra Wijaya to the 5-6* events. They SHOULD NOT be competing at Satelitte tournaments anymore for GOD sake (esp Hendra/Joko)!
Hafiz got his a$$ handed to him. How embarrasing. At least LCW gave a good account of himself, but he wasn't playing too well today. Henormally plays much better. Today he seemed sluggish.
They were complaining about the speed of the shuttle-cock and the match was delayed for at least 10 mins! They were testing the shuttles back and forth which make the Indonesian players a bit frustrated. From what I understand, the English players were on the side of the court which was affected by draft in the first set, so, they requested for shuttles with "low-speed" so as to slow down the game ? After the English players were contented, it's the Indonesian players' turn to complain because obviously, they prefer high-speed shuttles since they are an attacking pair and happened to be on the side of the court that favors them in the first set. Lius Pongoh had to came over to understand what's the situation and eventually the Indonesian players relented. That was why Kido lost his concentration in the starting few points and the English pair managed to take advantage of this opportunity and lead 8-3 in no time.
