Indian MD Manu/Sumeeth reddy stunned chinese 7th seed Hong wei/chai biao(chinese best pair).. Really unbelievable.. Hope somebody upload the video later..
FHF is partnering with Zhang Nan in MD. I guess LYB thinks Cai Yun cannot last till Rio 2016 and win a medal, and FHF/ZN is worth giving them a chance, despite the fact that Zhang Nan will be a front court player for MD but a rear court player for XD!!! If ZYL is to also play WD as well as XD, then both ZYL and ZN will play in two different disciplines for this Olympic cycle!! I think LYB will have to decide the final selections going into this Olympic qualification cycle after this All England event since the qualification period will begin in two months.
But you've (or was it the reporter of the article you quoted?) left out this part:- 但这次有伤在身的他面临很大的挑战，他只希望“尽力打好每场比赛”。http://sports.sina.com.cn/o/2015-03-04/08467531309.shtml Translation:- But this time, Lin Dan, who carried an injury, would be facing a major challenge, he only wishes to " do my best to play every match". Apparently, the extract from the article you posted is probably from the latest interview he gave at the All England which does not refer to those other reports/articles I mentioned the other day that not only touched on what Lin Dan himself said, eg his injury concerns, the treatment he underwent before and after the CHN Open, the disruption it caused to his training and preparation, that he thought he's back to about 70-80% of his best, but also Li Yongbo's realistic assessment of his present condition and guarded estimate of his chances at this AE. Otherwise,allow me to humbly say I won't take the trouble to translate and post the relevant articles/reports. Anyway, no point arguing over it, let's just see how he performs here. As we know, Lin Dan is not one to give lame excuses, never need to considering who he is, his character and what he's achieved beyond compare. To be frank, CBA and Li Yongbo has some years ago ceased to regard the All England as a major championship despite what the CHN players themselves think and wish for (of course, they all want to win it whatever the circumstances, no professional player ever relishes defeat or take any Superseries tournaments frivolously). Needless to say, for Lin Dan to achieve his year-end target of reaching top 3 , he has to play and win more tournaments, esp after being forced to skip several tournaments last year due to unforeseen injury sustained which may continue to impact him the first half this year. Saying is one thing, actually being able to do it, another; the more so when we have to take into account injury as a factor affecting the performance of a player who has only just recovered from it.
Live Streaming - http://videostream.dn.ua/videopage/videoPage.php?g=c2J2b2JoK2F0Y3ZsbmhZ&c=en&i=eWlhaXVidGd1bA№f№f
Since sometime last year, Xu Chen/Ma Jin's performance has already shown signs of instability. I suspect Xu Chen may not be too committed to going for Rio'16, and perhaps Ma Jin senses it and it's affecting her unconsciously. But that's just my speculation. Frankly, if they don't resolve whatever their problem is quickly and completely, they will soon be feeling mounting pressure from their younger colleagues snapping at their heels, namely Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin and Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong.
Well, already two upsets involving top chinese shuttlers... Really unexpected even though Jordan/Susanto proved they are in reach of the absolute top worldclass! Korean girls challenging CHN top pairs now. As expected they will really challenge them, but propably can't beat CHN WD... Let´s see how the second clash with WXL/YY plays out.
What a disappointing start for Chai Biao/Hong Wei. If they don't get their act together soon enough, they will be out of the running for Rio'16. To be fair, CHN MD is nowhere near out of the woods yet, even Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan is still a work-in-progress, I'm afraid.
And I'm not sure whether Zhang Nan is supposed to play both MD and XD, as he is chinas top mx pair along with Zhao Yunlei...
Yeah, it's not an easy decision for CBA to make on Zhang Nan playing both XD and MD or XD alone. CB/HW's flop is certainly not helping matters.
For WD, it is also not clear how LYB will play his cards. Will Tang YT, Bao YX and Tang JH go to Rio? What about the Luo sisters? In the past Olympic cycles, we would know by this time of the cycles which MD, WD and XD pairs would enter the qualification period. But this time, it's not clear.
From Livescore, LXR seemed to ease off at 15-9 in G2 to allow ZBW to level up before pulling away again to finish the match in two straight sets. Stamina problem or conserving energy? If so, it's a sign her fitness is suspect which is understandable as she's coming back from several months of injury layoff.
Yes, that's LYB's dilemma. Assuming Cai Yun is to retire, then FHF/ZN will be the best choice for MD. But ZN/ZYL is also the safest choice for XD. If either one of ZN or ZYL sustains injury before Rio 2016, which is a possibility if they both have to play in two different disciplines, then LYB would lose his gold medals for XD and very likely lose another medal for the level doubles.
