If I were ZN I would phone Hong Wei to come out of retirement and become my partner.. ohsem combo man!
http://sports.sina.com.cn/others/badmin/2018-09-20/doc-ihkhfqnt1159065.shtml Zhang Nan has voiced out his concerns after a second R1 exit in MD ,last week at the JPN Open, then at the CHN Open. He expressed hope that he and Liu Cheng can quickly put a stop to the lackluster results, candidly telling Sina Sports:" I feel it's quite normal to have some minor issues, more likely the problem has to do with both of us, we need to have a better way of resolving it. We are now in the process of doing so, but it's still not going smoothly." In the eyes of most people, Zhang Nan is playing the lead role in the MD pairing , after all he is the XD and MD Olympic gold medalists and his big match experience is much richer than Liu Cheng's. However, to Zhang Nan, in doubles discipline, " there is no such thing as who is carrying who." What exactly is the problem with the former MD world champion pair ? Zhang Nan replied:" Most of it regarding some differences between training and tournaments." By the way, both of them have approached Zhang Jun for help. [It appears to me Zhang Nan is being evasive or avoiding being too specific and not wanting to reveal too much to the public - Justin L] [I'm not translating the rest of the article as it largely contains nothing that Zhang Nan or Zhang Jun said that pinpoints what exactly the problem is and why it's still not resolved. I mean, just acknowledging there's a problem and that they haven't found a better solution yet is as good as not saying anything in particular. At the same time, I'm not interested in the author's own views - Justin L]
In my summarised part translated article above, I'm wondering if Zhang Nan is hinting at getting a different MD partner ?
Differences between them like personal problems? What do the coaches say about this I wonder. Back in WC, I noticed in particular in the QF match against the Danes, during the interval if I am not mistaken between G2 and G3 the coaches only approached LC and spoke to him while visibly being wary when they stole some glances at ZN. When ZN spoke up, they immediately backed away and let ZN did all the talking to LC without interrupting anything at all. I couldn't understand what they were talking as I don't understand Chinese but I had this impression that it was as if the coaches were not even trying to get involved. And it happened again here in China Open, when the coaches just gave some coaching to LC while ZN stepping aside doing his own thing. So when he said we both were in the process of resolving our differences, wouldn't that suggest they were going to keep the partnership?
Don't think their personal.....disputes extend to a professional level, I don't think she'd mind Hong Wei partnering him if it meant Hong Wei could win some more titles just don't expect her to greet them both after training lol
I trust the last thing Zhang Jun wants is to waste Zhang Nan's talents in both MD and XD. Since XD is already in good hands with Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Wang Yilu/Huang Dongping as well as Zhang Nan/Li Yinhui as backup or reserve pair, Zhang Jun must be hard pressed to resolve whatever problems Zhang Nan/Liu Cheng have as soon as possible before the Olympic cycle starts. I believe if Zhang Nan/Liu Cheng's indifferent results continue for a while more, Doubles Head Coach, Zhang Jun, will be forced to make some hard decision, splitting the pair may be in the cards I suspect as otherwise the reticent Zhang Nan wouldn't have felt the need to speak out publicly, and even Zhang Jun himself sounded helpless acknowledging he hasn't got a better solution than what he's already tried out so far with little success. No smoke without fire. The question is who will substitute Liu Cheng ? First of all, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen, no way they will be split, their H2H shutout by the Minions notwithstanding, too disruptive as Team CHN will all of a sudden be without any Top 8 MD pair for quite some time which creates its attendant problems, not least is the likelihood of meeting seeded pairs in the early rounds. As for their two younger pairings, Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong and Tan Qiang/He Jiting, all 20 years old, they have just begun to show signs of a breakthrough, in fact both pairs have beaten the redoubtable Minions lately. Would Zhang Jun consider breaking up either pair ? I'm not sure. What about 22-year-old Huang Kaixiang whom I mentioned before and the usual partner of Wang Yilu these two years, winning the 2017 Thailand Masters, the 2017 BAC silver, and the 2018 BAC bronze, not too shabby in comparison with HCK/ZHD and TQ/HJT; besides, his partner Wang Yilu is not allowed to do double duty for the Olympics, so HKX is considered a 'free man'. We'll see. One thing for sure, for a doubles player of Zhang Nan's caliber, seniority and status as Olympic and World Champion, I believe Zhang Jun will give him some say in the matter.
Zheng Siwei, no, very unlikely, he and Huang Yaqiong are China's mainstay in XD, Zhang Jun won't want to overstretch him playing two disciplines for the Olympics.
The rational part of my brain is completely with you. But we're still allowed to dream, aren't we? Just think about combining the speed and endless power of Zheng with the badminton brains and control of Zhang...
I don't really care much about CHN pairs to be honest, I just don't want Zhang Nan's talent and good form get wasted just because they couldn't find a good partner for him. I know it is just some personal and selfish wish from my side. Obviously Liu/Zhang isn't working and judging from Zhang Nan's body language and performances in the past few tournaments, he couldn't care less about this partnership and who can blame him? Even the coaches knew and actually had shown how much they respect Zhang Nan by coaching only LC most of the time and backed away when ZN spoke up. I can't vision Zheng Siwei to be the right back court player for Zhang Nan though I would like to see how Wang Yilyu would do. But they are obviously the CHN top 2 contender for the Olympics so technically they are out of the list. So far out of the younger pairs I see He Jiting has the potential to be a good match for Zhang Nan compared to Han Chenkai. Neither pair had won any significant titles nor had shown extraordinary results (unless defeating minions when they were not in form could be called a breakthrough). They are strong when they have the upper hand, but they get rattled pretty easily when the opponent didn't get down as they planned or expected. It's only a couple of years before the Olympics, if anything it would benefit the younger player to be paired with Zhang Nan for experiences and guidance.
What about Han ChengKai? I thought he was very impressive in going all the way to the finals at China Open few days ago. He was let down a bit by his partner Zhou HaoDong making many errors. But Han can play everything, front, back, smash, flat, net, interception. He and Zhang Nan would be a great combination! Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Well... ZN and ZYL used to be not only partners on court but also partners romantically for a few years... until something happened with ZN and some other female player. So you can understand if ZYL is still a bit miffed... Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Well LiuCheng/ZhangNan vs Chengkai/Haodong at R2 DenmarkOpen. We will see who is better. Well if LiuZhang can get past R1, that is. Another R1 exits probably will seal the fate of this pair.
In normal circumstances Liu/Zhang are better. But if LC gifted too many points to the opponents, Zhang Nan would probably just play half-heatedly. Not so sure I enjoy watching that.
To be fair when Goh/Tan was off form last year or this year, they havent performed as bad other than losing 2 pointer as much as Liu/Zhang had. I still think Goh/Tan is better than Liu/Zhang. Probably everyone wants to play LiuZhang now.
