Anyway....I hope endo/yuta could keep their aggressive play up until the olympics. it's okay to play more defensive game against MFG/KSS but I would like to see them play more like in their SF match against any other pair.
Not gonna survive, thats bold, you clearly underestimated them i think, just put Ahsan/Hendra there and compares them, i would say they would still top them but wouldnt be as dominant in MD as like now
What ? I'm just saying if MFG/KSS are struggling against defensive pair like endo/yuta can you imagine they play someones like LYD/JJS or Cai/Fu ? their defense was as solid as yuta/endo with much better attack, I don't think they would survive against prime KKK/TBH either, they'll bore them to death with their defense lol.
Those pairs dont even play as exciting as Minions...(no excitement means no money) lol Bring sigit budiarto back and we talk..
Ahsan/hendra are different, they're very clever...there's a reason why they beat yuta/endo time and time again, they have good attack from the back and hendra is a magician at the front, very unpredictable. the only reason MFG/KSS keep beating them is because of their weak defense, their defense suck...
kind of agree with this KSS can handle LYD/CY/KKK just fine for the front court however, can't say the same from the rear court smashes tho don't think MFG smashes can go through LYD/JJS impenetrable defence even gonna have hard time when KKK/TBH default to lifting like that always do
Fui Haifeng didn't have good defense. Yuta and Endo have way better defense than Fui Haifeng. Fui Haifeng's strength was his smash.
FHF defense had improve massively since 2010/2011, I agree it was pretty weak before that but since 2011 it's been really solid. when he played with zhang nan I also feel he got the better defense out of the 2.
Well, I can tell you that the key to FHF winning was to keep his side away from defense. Cai Yun could control the game and get his side on the attack, with favored FHF's smash, which was his greatest weapon. In games which Cai Yun and FHF lost, it was because the opponents picked on FHF's defense. As for the 2016 Olympics, the MD tournament was a joke. LYD was favored going in the tournament and he blew it early on. In the finals, Zhang Nan and FHF won not because they played well, but because Malaysia layed an egg in the finals. Both sides were nervous in the gold medal match, both sides made a lot of mistakes, Malaysia was leading at the end but then Malaysia made some unforced errors, which gave the gold away to Zhang Nan and FHF. It's like when Viktor Axelsen beat Tian Houwei in the finals of the Dubai SS finals but they both played bad and you wondered how that could be the finals. Anyways, Endo and Watanabe's defense is a step above FHF. It's not even close between their defense and FHF. It was FHF's smash that was his greatest weapon. His defense was always his liability.
I agree with you, FHF defense was definitely not as strong as Yuta/Endo's, only LYD/JJS and probably KKK/TBH had better defense than them, though I think Yuta/Endo's defense is slightly more creative than KKK/TBH who seems to be too passive in their defense.
Well i dare to say that endo/watanabe defense for tonight is on par with LYD/JJS its just crazy, the only question is can they maintain it
Momota had a foot injury at the beginning of 2018 which kept him from participating in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. This also meant he couldn't play All England, because he didn't have enough ranking points. His first two WT tournaments were Swiss and German Open in February and he didn't do well in either because of the recovery. His first tournament with free movement was the Asia Championship in 2018 and he won that beating CTC, LCW, SYQ and CL. So yeah, he wasn't the best player at the beginning of 2018, he was injured. He became #1 in the world in September 2018 (without being able to participate in 500+ tournaments until late April). Is that still summer for you? He wasn't the best player in the world before the ban, but he was still comfortably better than Axelsen, beating him in straight games in the WTF Final 2015 and the final of the India Open in 2016. At the time of his ban, Momota was 21, had been #2 in the world and had won all his 4 SS finals. Axelsen hadn't won a single SS tournament until the WTF 2016 and became #2 a year later than Momota in 2017 (at the age of 23). Nobody knows what would have happened in 2017 (and late 2016) had Momota not been banned, but he was quite a bit better than Axelsen before his suspension and is a lot better after. That being said I don't think Axelsen's title at AE this year is tainted at all. I thought he was extremely unconvincing against LCJ and LS, but with two finals and a semi from the three 500+ tournaments in 2020, he is a lot more consistent overall than Ginting, Christie, Antonsen, or CL and thus the second best player in the world. He deservedly won the title.
this isn't jr's where everyone 'deserves' something. it's professional sports, not charity. you earn your moments. endo earned his today. would you be more satisfied deserving it or earning it? the olympics are likely his last tournament, though i hope not. imagine playing the best you ever have at the end of your career...
Draw against the Daddies in the last 8, and then the Russians in the semi, with both pairs having better H-H records against them, i think Endo/Yuta’s path to the final is not easy. Then of course to dig deep and beat the Minions which is never easy, its a thoroughly well deserved win. That is 3 former AE winners that they beaten this week.
