They seem to have the same problem like LWW/CTF: no confidence, service faults(6-7 times), unforced errors. I wonder if it will be the end of road for these two veteran pairs. When the malaysian pairs were out, i prefer the indonesian pair to grab the title rather than Denmark or China (no offence here).It seems like i would have to support the Eng pair now.
From what I saw, WPT can also smash hard despite her stature. She fired 3 beauties right down the center of the court. Of course, KKK plays like a man possess since he does not want to come home early . He also covers the rear court really well. To be honest, I am beginning to fancy their chances of entering the finals, but the English pair is also very good. Anyway, may the best pair win and please....no bad line calls . 2 bad line calls could have cost LCW the match...so please no more. I can't wait for badminton to enter the digital age, where instant video replays are used to determine line calls.
Winner and loser til SF I think QF created many losers! Team China seems to have great start as 3 MS stormed into SF but with the dissapointed ending as 2 mixed doubles and one WS failed to advance. Malaysia is also a loser as Lee Chong Wei did not live up to expectation and Hafiz just didn't show up to play couple with the lost of the remaining MD pair, only KKK/WPT salvaged our pride, if there's any left. Indonesia is also loser, 1 pair lost to the underdog and other pair behaved like Hafiz, very dissapointed as no Indonesian in SF, may be first time in the history of World Championship? Korea is also a loser and is a very early loser way before the tournament even started, plaqued with injuries and low morale which's very out of character for the Korean. Lee Hyun Il is the only one can turn the situation around with 2 Chinese players in front ... Denmark is non-loser and non-winnner, MD deparment did well but others all fumbles, ... UK and Germany are the big winners, so is Thailand in XD.
..if this was only in the 1st set, i think they still had time to recover and regroup(this reminds me of the Jens/Martin vs. Candra/Sigit match abt 1 or 2 yrs ago, forgot what tourney was that, where one side wanted to play with "slow" shuttle and the other with "fast" shuttles)...oh well, it's ok, it's a learning experience for them..hopefully next time around they'll learn from this defeat, perhaps use the same strategy in the future?!?!..
Great job from KKK/WPT. Good anticipation and after the interval talk in the first game, they drew the Danes more to the net. And astonishingly, WPT was outstanding at receiving high flick serves for easy putaway. So too Sudket/Saralee, I almost thought they were going to be "steamrolled" after the 1st game loss. Also the service judge does have a hand, faulting Zhang Yawen like nobody's business .... And, being young, she can't handle the pressure. I hope both pairs can meet in the final, but if they don't, they've already gone very far. Wanna see Sudket's flamboyance vs KKK's coolness. Yet at the end of the day, it's still a pity that Malaysia hasn't seriously looked into developing world class XD pairs.
Maybe after this, BAM will seriously put an effort into XD? Although MS and MD are more famous than XD,WD and WS in Malaysia, but a winner is always a winner, no matter from what category. From what I read, KKK told the reporters that he and WPT didn't train very much cause they concentrate in MD and WD. And so far they only enter about 5 or 6 tournament this year. Maybe they should change their priority and started looking at XD more seriously.
The aftermath..This could be CH's year ..well, after reading and flying quickly thru all the posts in this thread, i must say, the Day 5 results has been the most surprising day so far...I'm just going to make some quick comments on a few QF/SF matches: There are 2 surprises so far for me: 1. CH vs. PG - The surprise player in the tournament so far has got to be Chen Hong. Wow, unbelievable indeed-taking down "2 MS giants" back-to-back...He truly has surprised me(well, probably all of us), as i "predicted" he would go down against PG...As PG was probably more "fresher"..We, at least myself, thought after his neck-and-neck battle with Taufik in R16, that he would most likely have nothing left in the tank..Yet, he proved otherwise today with another tough 3 setters... After today's result, i would say, the man to beat is CH, as of now..But his upcoming battle in the SF against LD will be a classic nonetheless, could go the distance, again; 2. The other surprise so far, at least for myself, are the England's doubles pairs. Who would've thought after Rexy had left, that they still would be competitive??. Perhaps they've targeted and focused to do very well in this yr's WC to make up last yr's "disastrous" trip to WC in the U.S... Tomorrow's Semifinals clashes should be another classics..I am esp. looking fw to the LD vs. CH match(and i am rooting for CH....A side of me tells me that the winner of that battle will be the new World Champion..
just finish watching the kido/setiwan vs clark/blair. the young indo pair made the big booboo for not taking the wind into their shots. In the rubber set, after the team switched court, indo keep losing points by pumping the shuttles out on the english side and keep misreading the 'in' shots as out on their side.
