Zhang Nan is outstanding in front and at the back while Fu HF is no longer just a big hammer at the back, a pretty good combination, getting better and better.
And so far all the matches are concluded in straight except one, the All-Chinese WD semi final,,, what a hi-speed day
If only the WD and XD semi finals were duels between JPN pairs vs CHN ones and INA pairs vs CHN ones, respectively, they would light much more heat today.
Ofc it is an upset as they are WC, but imho I don´t believe Ko/Shin will be near as stable as Lee/Yoo. A lot depends on Shin who is the play maker, while Ko has still problems with his soft shots from the midcourt. They had an amazing run at the WC, but are they more than a Top6 pair with regular SF and F appearance? Anyway I also like the Fu/Zhang combo! they are not afraid to rally. Let´s see if they can break the best?! defence tomorrow
Fu/Zhang looks like an interesting pair. But we have seen on the past new pairs having success, and after a while fading into mediocre results. And we are not certain yet that the CHN team view this pair as a stable one, as Zhang Nan is already busy with his girlfriend. Well, let us hope they will go on with the present form.
China domination again? Although CHN appears in all 5 events in the finals today, she has secured only the WS title. CHN has to prove she can win all to become dominant champions again. Will the rest be able to stop CHN, especially KOR who is appearing in 2 events? What is your take?
From H2H records, China should take MS, WS, WD and XD while Korea MD. Last year Denmark open, China had 4 representations in the final, and they got 4 titles. This year, they have 6 in the final, looks better than last year, but hard to predict. I remember when I watched the FHF/ZN vs Ko/Shin, they were introduced as 2014 win-loss Fu/Zhang 21-5 2014 win-loss Ko/Shin 15-9 Just look at the records, Fu/Zhang are much better than Ko/Shin, but Ko/Shin are ranked #8 in the world and Fu/Zhang #23. How come? The reason is the ranking system. The ranking system giving points not on how many matches you won, but depends on how many matches you lose. Sounds weird, right? but it's true! Ko/Shin lost more, which means they participated more tournaments, therefore own more points. Even lost in the 1st round at Indonesia open (win-loss 0:1), they were granted 2660 points too. While Fu/Zhang lost only 5, which means they participated less tournaments, therefore 0 points for no participating.
Obviously, Zhang Nan does not want to suffer the same fate as LYD, as the latter couldn't win any gold medal in London 2012 because he had to compete in two disciplines. My wild guess is that Zhang Nan won't partner with FHF for Rio 2016. If both ZN and ZYL have to compete in their respective doubles, their XD partnership would be in decline. Right now, ZN/ZYL is still the best bet for XD gold medal for Rio 2016.
On paper, the MD should go to KOR top seed over CHN 's scratch pair of ZN/ FHF. But will it come true? And will SWH be the first Korean to win the MS by beating CL? Well he has done this before!
Now it is really up to the Koreans to stop China's stranglehold. INA's XD has just been eliminated by XC/MJ.
Here is the link to the new thread for the finals - http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...en-SS-Premier-2014-FINALS-(19th-October-2014)
