Chinese badminton especially the MS and WS is in serious decline. It is a structural problem as Justin pointed out very well earlier. But no major changes in the system have been implemented. LYB is still watching LD creating a miracle and Chen Jin is still making statements of intent. Its very sad especially the poor China juniors. Everytime a GP tournament is held one sees so many new players from the ROW. Their juniors are given the best support by their association and just to make it interesting, my prediction for the MS title is the korean junior JHJ who eliminated XS. And in addition , my recommendation to the CBA is to start a new group of juniors from the last two AJC and WJC representatives . And IMHO replace some coaches and take note of Justin's recommendations to improve the situation.
All four CHN MS sent packing in R1 of a GP event is depressing, almost unheard of, unprecedented. Time for Lin Guipu and Shi Yuqi to step up, but they are not here. Recently, Xue Song's performance has been disappointing, same goes for Qiao Bin. Jeon HJ is the player to watch, he is the next rising star for KOR MS, he's beaten his established senior Son Wan Ho twice lately. And for CHN WS, only Yao Xue and Shen Yaying fielded, what about the juniors He BJ (withdrawn), Chen Yufei, Li Yun, and a few not so young juniors like Hui Xirui, Suo Di ? A sad state of affairs for Team CHN's future development.
But I hope Lin Guipu And Shi Yuqui havent been put off by the lackadaisical treatment from the CBA. There is also Ye Binghong as well as others, both men and women. I am sorry but I feel that LYB should continue to watch the old guard on the sidelines and take charge of the Rio selection. But a new head honcho be given full charge of the junior team and doesnt report to him. The CBA gives full support to this team and they can take part in any competition if they have the ranking points. Only with separate responsibilities will this succeed otherwise "politics" will take over.
So much of hype and praise here for Jeon Hyeok Jin but to be honest his performance has been inconsistent all this while. He is nowhere near Lin Dan standard yet. the best bet for Korea is still. Lee Hyun Il. Lee Hyun Il is old but he still can win. Then Son Wan Ho and Lee Dong Keun poor performance is highlighted too. Even in this tournament, Lee Dong Keun advanced by winning over lower ranked junior players. Wow so much of praise for JHJ so if he doesn't win the gold medal in this tournament then he might be embarrassed. High hope is still on Lee Hyun Il. Also in Korea so many people are talking about the future star WS Lee Jang Mi but she just lost embarrassingly to Nichaon and the third set score is rather one sided too 11-21. Anyway I am still waiting to see who will win the MS gold medal for this tournament.
In order to win in the doubles tournament, new pairs have been formed in Korea but sad to say most of the doubles players from XD, MD and WD have already lost in the first round of the tournament. now only one MD and 2 WD have not played their matches yet but looking at the way it goes it is very unlikely that they can pass the first round too. Now Korea cannot be said as the powerhouse in doubles event anymore. From the result of yesterday and today seems like badminton powerhouse like China and Korea has been on decline. All the China MS and WS have lost leaving only Xue Yao. This seems so unbelievable. Then most of the Korean players have also lost in the first round of the tournament. Now what is happening to this 2 badminton powerhouse.
I just seen MAS Zulfadli Zulkifli lost to INA one of Taufik's successors Anthony Ginting in straight games...
PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY: Ginting ANTHONY Defeated Zulfadli ZULKIFFLI 21-16 21-12. Also,i concluded today that Indonesia's B team for MS is better than India's B team.After R.M.V Gurusaidutt was knocked out by Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo,B.Sai Praneeth lost to another Indonesian, Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu.
Sameer Verma(India) defeated Jonatan Christie(Indonesia) 16-21 21-19 22-20 Indian Badminton fans must feel proud for Sameer and for another Young Indian Shreyansh Jaiswal who defeated Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif of Malaysia 16-21 21-19 15-21.
Tournament favourite Lee Hyun Il dismantled Adulrach Namkul of Thailand in straight sets with scoreline reading 21-11 21-9.
Zulfadli Zulkifli ousted by promising INA junior Anthony Ginting. Liang Xiaoyu beating 4th seeded Kim Hyo Min is no mean feat. Credit to Chen Jiayuan for overcoming Shen Yaying.
Okay a lot of nice and interesting matches upcoming today. After a bout of poor performance from 2 badminton powerhouse Korea and China the results for this tournament is totally unpredictable now. China no longer dominate in the MS and WS department but their doubles players have shown vast improvement and have been performing well thus far. Korea who used to be powerful in the doubles events could not hold on as most of their players have been knocked out in the first round. Sad part here is all the Korea MS players have already lost leaving behind Lee Hyun Il and Jeon Hyeok Jin. As for the WS department it was even sadder when all of them lost in the first of the tournament yesterday. Based on the results from the different tournaments held in the past till now it has already shown that China and Korea as 2 badminton powerhouse have been performing badly. Also noted till now is that many countries around the world have already improved a lot thus making it difficult for China and Korea to dominate as the badminton powerhouse. This is true as even country like Spain have already produced a world class WS champion, Carolina Marin. Nobody in the past would have thought about this but now it is really happening. Now badminton tournaments is getting more exciting as it is very difficult to predict who will be the winner now. We have seen many examples of how lower ranked players can win over higher ranked players. I predict that lots of upsets will also be created in this tournament.
CWF vs.TMN today... Ginting and TS face fellow INA B players... another INA player that should be invited back to PBSI is Thomi Azizan