Did I hear right -- Gunawan played with some Bob Malaythong dude, and lost to Bach/Han?

It was supposedly an exhibition match after the United States Adult Nationals -- did this really happen?

That is true
Tony is a good player...but he is over rated
The players of the United States are tactically superior and our best players don't always participate in international tournaments.
To be honest we were only toying with Tony, we were running him around like a chinese peking duck or an indonesian dish if u prefer ... and Tony was trying 2 power through his soft weak smashes, but nevermind
He shouldn't have come here. The poor boy

Why does this smell like the IBF forum?

;)

Because, the impersonator of Howard Bach in this forum makes it seem like it was a big spectacle. I was there right in front of the whole thing watching. It's not that Tony and Bob lost. It was rigged by the powers to be in US to put up a good show and to show the audience on how much Kevin and Howard are improving in their game.

When was this on tv? I guess the US team REALLY needs to convince people that they ARE good perhaps to get some sponsors?

what a shame...for the sport...

I would have to agree with smashguru, since the USOC rep ( the guy that gives funding for Kevin and Howard was present). I also saw Kevin talk to Tony before the match, it seemed that Kevin had forgotten the script you know like in WWF :)

At the same time I think that it goes to show that in doubles your partner does matter. I know Bob is quite good, but it seemed as though Kevin and Howard were picking on him. I would have to say that they smashed at him 80% of the time.

Well, if they were picking on Bob Malaythong and not giving Tony Gunawan many shots, that explains the win. There really is no need to bring in a conspiracy theory and make this forum sound like an episode of the X-Files :-) Anyway, a USOC rep isn't about to say "Wow! They beat Tony. I'd better go right back to my office and write a really big check!" Not on the strength of one exhibition match anyway.
I like your point about the importance of doubles partners, though. Guys I have partnered can give many examples of how they were not able to overcome the disadvantage :-P

I would have to agree with smashguru here. Given the way the
USAB does things, I won't be surprised if that match turned out to be rigged.
I did notice that Tony clearly wasn't giving 100%.

I could believe that it was rigged, or at least to manufacture excitement in front of the USOC representative -- I distictly remember Kevin Han missing or messing up a shot, then turning away from the crowd, crouching down and putting his hands on his head as if he were totally freaking out by the mistake. THEN, I see a Howard smirk.

Oh well, it was fun to watch at least. The way I see it is, if it were rigged I could understand why.

Thanks for all your support. My conversation with Tony after was really good, he told me that the "powers to be" wants a nice show. So, he and the guys had a little chit chat before the match.

oh gosh, what if the USOC representative found out!

Well think of it this way, it was an exihibition match. There was nothing here at stake besides egoes, but fortunately, these guys were professional enough to put their egoes aside and play an entertaining game. It didn't matter who won or who loss, nor if the match was rigged. All that mattered was the entertainment factor and that's what these players provided.

There's a distinct odor of male bovine dung in this thread and not surprisingly, we're seeing several posters whose names have never popped up here before (but likely wandered over from the IBF forum after they cracked down on the crackpots). The report on who won or lost is probably the only accurate statement on this thread.

To the little teenager(s) posting here under different pseudonyms, please go play some actual badminton, get a date, read a book, watch TV, etc... rather than goof around here on this forum.

hey mashall, thanx for the first laugher on a rotten day. :)

Hear!

It was bound to spill over here eventually though...

(Kwun, this is were you get your guns ready, btw)

Just as an illustration to why BC rules over the IBF forum:

A guy called Matthew Ross recently asked a question about singles/doubles drills both here and at the IBF forum.

Here, he got admittedly few but relevant answers.

At the IBF forum, he only got answers like:

"I can teach you, come play with me in BAM, come to my house in Malaysia. Hope you come soon."

and

"Drills? Use Bosch or Makita and you will be alright"


This is why it's important to fight these tendencies here... before it's too late.

I'm very unhappy by the fact that you said that Tony Gunawan is over-rated. He is not. He is the BEST doubles player. If you think that they are better than Tony Gunawan, then go and ask them to join a tournament and go fight with Kim Dong Moon / Ha Tae Kwon or Lee Dong Soo / Yoo Yung Sung. They might not get even a point. After so many times of watching badminton matches, I feel that Tony Gunawan is the only player who is smart and technically very good, and he is the only player who can defeat all other good players and of course, poor players. He has his very own way of defeating all players, especially good players. Can the good US players you say win the players I have mentioned?

The US players are toying with Tony Gunawan? Hahaha, you're so humourous. You know what I feel about you, you're just like kids. The first time when I play with one of my 'friend' who like bragging, I gave him a 14-0 lead, because I know what my ability is and I don't want him to feel bad. Only after then, I started to play well and win the match 17-14 with just one serve. But, to my suprise, he went shouting around, bragging to everybody else that "I managed to get 14 points from the school's best player and he almost lost! He is only that good and if I tried more, he'll surely lose!!". Know what, you're just like him. The next time I played him, I was so angry with him that I don't even give him a chance and I won him without a further thought :15-0.

Tony Gunawan has weak smashes? Hahaha, you must be a very low quality badminton player. Didn't you know that there are many types of smashes : power smashes, cut smashes and also drop shots? You might mistaken his smashes with drop shots!!! Tony Gunawan is a smart player and he doesn't use his power foolishly, like some other players do.

You already said that it was an EXHIBITION match, right? He must have been instructed by some power guy that he must let the US players win. Tony Gunawan is also a friendly player, he emphasizes more on friendship then other things. He don't want the US crowd to feel disappointed. Last time, I remembered that Manchester United played a friendly match with Malaysia's national team at Malaysia, and they won 5-0. Did you ever think about that, if they played the way they usually play, would they just win by 5-0? NO! They'll probably win by 10-0 or 18-0.

So, Howard, think twice before criticizing other players, especially the players who is popular and liked by everybody. What you had said just showed how childish you are. Being a badminton player, you must always give respect to everyone. This is the first time I ever said something rude in this forum, because you said my badminton idol, Tony Gunawan is a Peking Duck, fooled by US players. Hope that you won't do that again. And, once again, Tony Gunawan is the best player in the world! Thanks.

Ali, while I agree with you that Tony Gunawan is (possibly alongside Kim) the greatest doubles player today, I am afraid this was exactly the kind of reaction that "Howard Bach" was trying to provoke. My advice is that you don't waste any more energy on him...

:)

Olli, I'll agree with you on that one. I myself can verify the accuracy of Marshall's observations on weaker partners by looking at my own, similar experiences.

Something worse than knowing your lesser skills were responsible for you and your partner to lose a match, is to have a partner unjustifiably think the loss was entirely your fault. I played in one match in a team tournament with a partner who, on a daily basis, is quite a bit stronger player than I am and played better in this particular match. We lost 15-2, 15-1 to a very much stronger pair of players and my partner gives me this kind of disgusted, disdainful look after the match, clearly thinking the blame for the butt kicking we suffered rested solely on my shoulders. Hello! He received half the other teams' serves and was responsible for half of our few serves, too - it wasn't just me losing every point. It should be clear that when the match is that lopsided, neither partner on the losing team was playing brilliantly. While I made more mistakes, the other team wasn't picking on me exclusively and were scoring at will on him also.

Some years ago my club managed to engage Fung Permadi and Indra Wijaya for playing a few games in our league (our coach at that time was a good friend of Ardy Wiranata, Heryanto Arbi, Fung and all those indo players). To my shame I have to admit, that we were (and still are) only playing in the 4th highest league in germany. But even on this low level (for Fung it must have been more boring than playing with marbles) our oponents were able to defeat a double consisting of Fung and one of our guys just by only playing with him. If Fung hadn't been too polite to tell him, just to make his serves and keep off the court the rest of the time, Fung could have won this match 15:0, 15:0 by his own.

you all know that it is rude to let your opponents win if you are able to defeat them? you are supposed to play to the utmost of your abiltiy.

I have competed against this Bach guy. He was teamed up with Stanley Woo. these guys are not that good. they wouldn't have a chance with the international players. I guess it wasn't Tony's day to win, that's all...haha

hmmm... ok... let's just accept the statement from bach

tony gunawan IS overrated....

to howard bach (or imposter) :
candra wijaya and tony gunawan is 22nd in the men doubles ranking... and tony has retired... so their points wun go up anymore...

i'll give you a solid year to get the same points as them... how about it?
if you can do that, then i'll say that you two are underrated and gunawan is overrated...

but if you cant....

Enough of this talk, if you did not get a chance to see the exhibition match, that's okay. The exhibition match along with the other finals matches for the 2002 US Adult Nationals can be viewed on www.playbadminton.com. Right now, there are only the ladies and mens doubles matches. By the end of the week, there should be the remaining finals matches and exhibition match.

FYI, it wasn't the real Howard Bach, the message was posted by an imposter.

br, what's your name? did you play against them in the BA Open? who was your partner?

To BAY RESIDENCE - if you played against Howard and Stanley Wo? Why do you think that they are not good enough the compete internationally? Did you win that match at the BA OPEN? Uhhhhhh... I don't think so. Make sure that you can back up what you say? Cuz, if you want a rematch between these 2 guys. Let me know.. I can get both of them to go full blast on you and whomever your partner is.

p.s.
Thanks Cora!!! Stella says Hi!!! and please say hi to Rudi for me...

Thank you smashguru for defending my honor. Howard sends his wishes too!

OMG, the stinking smell of Kelvin K. S. Han is here!!!

This is addressed to Bay Residence:

Well, Howard Bach and Stanley Wo ended up winning the BAOpen last January
against the best that the SF Bay Area can offer including the team
of Zeng Quingguo and Mike Yang in the finals, plus a few
US national players along the way. If you played against them in this
tournament, then they must have bulldozed you to the ground too as
they did to everyone else in their path.

Now, the team of Kevin Han and Howard Bach is even stronger
than the one you faced so I don't think you can claim that they
are "not that good". Granted, they are not as good as the team of
Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto but if you'll check the results
of the Thomas Cup semifinals in Eindhoven this past February,
you'll see that they did very well, even beating the top doubles
pair from Sweden. I'm sure even you will recognize that the
opponents that they beat there are "international level" players.

Yeah it really sounds funny that Howard Bach is better than Tony Gunawan hahahaha mmm just see how Tony does in the next Olympics, well he and Wijaya got gold in Sydney. What has Howard achieved then hahaha You have to note that Tony has switched back to his partner Hariyanto and already they have won The All England a (Four Star International Event) which they beaten Wijaya and S Budiarto. Howard Bach oooooh the mens doubles is under threat from Mr Bach, i think a Mr Bach is going to win gold at the Olympics i really do :)

Kids, just say NO to drugs.

Don't forget that Tony Gunawan is the World Champion with Hariyanto. They beat a very strong pair, Kim Dong Moon-Ha Tae Kwon 15-0, 15-13 in an unbelievable way.

F*@%&^$ D@#$ American ! Thats how arrogant they are. Always good with words but sooooo weak in action. No wonder why they have lotz lotz of ennemies...

Peace out Everyone

wow... looking back.. so funny.. NOw everybody know what Tony Gunawan is made out of.. :]. hahah