Obviously, this pair is getting jaded playing non-stop in a desperate attempt to move up the ranks as quickly as possible during the OG QF period, little time left starting from scratch. And all that is beginning to take a toll on them, physically and mentally. I think they need a short break to do some serious systematic training but can't afford the luxury. Too bad they are caught in such a pressing, tricky situation. In retrospect, CBA should've split Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan much earlier but I guess they have to give some face to Liu Cheng who is, after all, a world champion once upon a time, not to mention a surprising lack of depth in CHN MD.
At the moment, Ou/Zhang's rank in race to Tokyo is 16 (37,200pts) while Han/Zhou is at 11 (40,417pts). Skipping FO hurt Ou/Zhang's qualification campaign even more since they are not gaining any point this week.. Urgh Zhang Nan/Tan Qiang will face Liu Cheng/Wang Yilyu in the individual final match. Win the gold ZN!
World Military Games 2019 result Bronze XD : Zhang Nan/Li Xirui Gold MD : Tan Qiang/Zhang Nan Not bad for an addition to his medals collection.
Ou/Zhang will face Huang/Liu in SF again tomorrow at Macau Open Super 300 2019. They managed to win last time in a Super 100, was it Yuzu Indonesia Masters? Can Ou finally show some stability and consistency? Guess we'll see tomorrow. Ou/Zhang Jia you!
Nope they didn't make it to the final. Fuzhou China Open is starting in two days. They SHOULD be able to get through to R2 and face Ahsan/Hendra. We'll see how it goes soon.
Wow look at the World's ranking this week. #26 Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan #27 Ou Zuanyi/Zhang Nan #28 Huang Kaixiang/ Liu Cheng Very tight competition Tokyo qualification : #10 Han/Zhou 46,467 #13 Ou/Zhang 39,990
So since my posts had been removed from the tournament thread for reason : off topic. I will just say it here then. Just because I said practically nothing about Liu/Zhang loss in WC doesn't mean I have nothing to say against it. I said nothing because I haven't watched the match due to the time difference at the time. But judging from the scoreline, I didn't even need to say anything or even doubt that anything was wrong. Liu/Zhang was disposable as they practically didn't exist anymore while Li/Liu was their precious precious reigning World Champions at the time and CHN's supposed best bet to medal in Olympics but failed to even get through SF the next day, ironically. There was no doubt that Liu/Zhang was there to get rid of obstacles for either Li/Liu or probably Han/Zhou too if necessary. It was obvious. Not even my being a DIEHARD fan of ZN was enough to be blinded or stupid enough to believe that he lost tamely because Li/Liu was the better pair that day? Hah! I know ZN and he would never lose without a fight in any match especially Major tournaments if it weren't for the "greater good". He should have won a medal in this year WC if he hadn't faced any CHN pair in their way. There is nothing I could do except respecting ZN's action regardless its value. And my anger is toward the team and the coaches who are the dumba**es. Wth had they been doing? Breaking up Liu/Zhang after Olympics qualification started and gave him a $%#@$% partner to fly around the globe playing in all tournaments for what? Working ZN ass for months without a break. Though I sincerely hope his hard work will pay off someday.
That's just your opinion, and opinions are not facts, you still have to prove your assertions. Allow me to add a few points: 1) If Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan is still good enough to beat Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen, at the world championships they would certainly give it a go, one last shot and have a crack at the title, for the greater good or not doesn't matter; 2) Liu/Zhang is already split for good, and that's because their results have been indifferent, no illusions about it, just that it's somewhat unfortunate they were split rather late; the fact that up till now, Zhang Nan's new partnership with Ou Xuanyi didn't work out well either is a separate matter; 3) Both Zhang Nan and Liu Cheng have been playing continually tournament after tournament with their respective new partner for months in their desperate bid to raise their world ranking and get into the race to Tokyo 2020, and, yes, no doubt, accumulated fatigue had taken a toll on them even before their match with Li/Liu, an undeniable consideration; 4) whatever ranking points Liu/Zhang garnered at the world championships serves no real purpose as far as the Race to Tokyo is concerned as they each have a new partner. Taking into account all of the above, what would Liu/Zhang have done, what would be their mindset going into the world championships? Your guess is as good as mine. Whatever, the decision is theirs to make. It's all over now. Let's move on. All that matters most to them now is to do their utmost with their respective new partners to qualify for Tokyo 2020. All the very best to them. Enough said.
I just realised Ou/Zhang will play Ahsan/Hendra tomorrow. Not expecting much but hoping it will be a good match at least since it is on court 2.
What a match! Ou/Zhang just missing out 29-30 in the 3rd game! This should send a message to all pairs.
Hope they are on the cusp of a breakthrough. Good to see Ou Xuanyi playing with gusto, proactive and pumped up. His attack is stronger than his defence, needs to work more on the latter.
Ou's performance was unexpectedly well today. Still quite a lot of wrong shot choices and too eager but it worked this time. Sad that they lost it so narrowly and couldn't believe ZN missing his serves nerves? too used to super 100/300? they still need to play in HK, Korea and India. Ou seemed to have pretty much a lot of energy in his tank. Not sure about ZN.. if they could keep this up, might be able to get to top 8 by april next year. But not optimistic, to be honest.
Ou/Zhang is through to R1 by winning their qualification match today. 21-15 24-22 was too close for comfort against relatively lower ranked pair.. didn't watch the match though. If anyone knows any link to their match today, would be appreciated to post it here. Their current world ranking is #24 after playing in 13 tournaments. They shouldn't need to go through qualification rounds in any Super 500 and should qualify to Super 750+ tournaments. About 6 months to go to fight and to climb up to the Top 8 for getting the second spot to Tokyo 2020.
Ou/Zhang lost in QF Korea Masters. I suppose nothing much has changed.. Their rank went one up to 23 this week.
There are no more tournaments that Ou/Zhang or other CHN pairs will play in except for Li/Liu. Looking at the qualification rank at the moment, and the WTF qualifiers the only pair that could go further up in the ranks is Lu/Yang. But WTF results doesn't really matter. As for now, Tokyo qualification rankings for the CHN MDs are : #3 (WR#3) Li/Liu - 76,420; #9 (WR#8) Han/Zhou - 50,467 #15 (WR#23) Ou/Zhang - 44,380 #18 (WR#16) He/Tan - 42,740 #20 (WR#25) Huang/Liu - 42,030 Li/Liu's position as CHN's MD1 will most likely be permanent until Olympics no matter what happens in early 2020. As for the rest, every pairs still has the chance to grab the second spot as long as they can rise up within Top 8 starting with PERODUA Malaysia Masters Super 500 and Daihatsu Indonesia Masters Super 500. With their WR, Ou/Zhang shouldn't have any problem to qualify to main draw in all Tournaments Super 500+, so should they be able to proceed as far as QFs or even SFs should boost their points and ranks. Probably they will also be playing in Super 300 (I don't think they need to play in Super 100 anymore) like they had been doing this year, just in case. They need to at least raise their points to over 60,000 to break into top 10. Not impossible but it's quite hard to stay optimistic to be honest
it's unfortunate for ZN to miss out on Tokyo next year (unless miracle happen). he will be 30 next year, and likely to retire before Paris'24. a gold in each of the last 2 Olympics, if he win another gold next year, he'd set a record, right?
Really unfortunate. He needs a miracle in the form of Ou. And all the luck they need to get an "easier" draws along the year. Felt like he has wasted two years of his still prime form as MD players in particular. LC losing his form probably had to do with his personal issues or relationship problem? Thought they could have actually become the best CHN MD by now if LC could sort out his issues. And to change partners in the middle of qualification period was like the worst idea ever.. We'll see how Ou could come out after the winter camp people been talking and just how solid Ou/Zhang would be the first four months of next year. Many fingers crossed.
Zhang Nan's 2019 results With Liu Cheng: YONEX GERMAN OPEN 2019 : R16 YONEX ALL ENGLAND OPEN BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019 : QF (beating minions in R1) YONEX SWISS OPEN 2019 : R32 CELCOM AXIATA MALAYSIA OPEN 2019 : QF SINGAPORE OPEN 2019 : R32 BADMINTON ASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019 : MD R16 ; XD R32 (with LYH) TOTAL BWF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019 : QF Total : 7 tournaments With Ou Xuan Yi: BLIBLI INDONESIA OPEN 2019, Super 1000: QF DAIHATSU YONEX JAPAN OPEN, 2019 Super 750: R32 TOYOTA THAILAND OPEN 2019, Super 500: R32 IDBI FEDERAL LIFE INSURANCE HYDERABAD OPEN 2019, Super 100 : R16 YONEX AKITA MASTERS 2019, Super 100 : Champion BELARUS INTERNATIONAL 2019, IS : Champion YONEX-SUNRISE VIETNAM OPEN 2019, Super 100 : R16 KOREA OPEN 2019, Super 500 : R32 YUZU INDONESIA MASTERS 2019, Super 100 : Champion YONEX DUTCH OPEN 2019, Super 100 : SF DANISA DENMARK OPEN 2019, Super 750 : R32 MACAU OPEN 2019, Super 300 : SF FUZHOU CHINA OPEN 2019, Super 750 : R16 YONEX-SUNRISE HONG KONG OPEN 2019, Super 500 : R16 GWANGJU KOREA MASTERS 2019, Super 300 : QF Total : 15 tournaments; Titles : 2 Super 100, 1 IS Altogether ZN has played in 22 tournaments this year all over the world. Best achievement so far is getting to QF Indonesia Open Super 1000. How many tournaments he will have to play next year..