Here is my own opinion on day two. I arrived in the hall about 1230 when XD had finished, and MD starting.

I missed most of the Lee/Choong vs Sigit/candra match, but my friend said it was a very good game, but INA just chasing game most of the time.

The scoring system in the hall was out of order and slow most of the day, so was very difficult to follow a match, and there were too many games to watch and concentrate on.

The overriding memeory of the day is good news for BF malaysian memebers though, as the quality of their new MD pairs is very high. They are fast and powerful like many yound MD players, but have very good variation, supreme defences and a patience and shot selection that defies their ages. Rexy really has done well!

Tazari and Lin in particular were tremendousley impressive. They has an easy game against a young ENG pair in the afternoon (although they showed some promise too), but the way they made Cai/Fu look silly was unbelievable. They never missed a trick on the defence, hoisting it over CHN pair heads from midcourt many times, and driving them back when they were flat. their midcourt play made CHN pair look slow. and although netplay was never a strength of CHN they totally outplayed them here. CHN pair didn't know what to do.

Abdul/Gan wre also very good against JR+steffensen. they play a different style to Tazari/lin however as they are much more agressive, however when needing to defend they performed very well too.

Blair and Clarke looked sharp against Kido/setiawan in the afternoon, but never got started against guo/Xie.

In the Mens singles there were a few good games, but I was also very impressed with LCW game. He is much stronger than last year when I saw him, and a lot quicker. WYY is not a top quality player, but he didn't deserve to lose 15-0 in the second. LCW was just so in control, and Wu couldn't finish when he did get counter attacks.

Sairul Ayob match against KJ was awful. I could see why the MAL national team kicked him out. He is a really lazy player, who has good racket skills, but doesn't want to work hard, and his footwork is sloppy. He does have very good racket skills however and flicked off the net wrong footing KJ a few times, but he seemed reluctant to take on KJ at the net. Very disappointed in this match.

Chen Jin vs Boonsak was a very good match, but actually i wasn't too impressed with chen jin. his skills and techniques are not to the level of Chen Hong/Bao at the same age, and relies a lot on physical game. He reminded me of a chinese version of anders boessen! maybe I caught him on a bad day, and will make a better judgement after today and maybe tomorrow. He won however, so can't take too much away.

Chen Hong on the other hand is rising in my estimations all the time, and I thought highly of him before. He is virtually a complete player now and should be at the peak of his career. His techniques in footwork and strokes are as good as ever. His speed is still there, although not quite as fast as 2-3 years ago, but now his weakness in his defence and patience appears to be being eradicated.

WCH never got started, he seems to have lost his powerful smash and is trying to be a patient rally player, but he makes too many mistakes in this more relaxed mode.

Didn't take notes of any womens matches, not even know who won WS matches. only that the swedish pair played very well knocking out the German pair (Good news for mag!)

Running out of time to go see QF now, sorry to be brief will report more after weekend. Please don't take offences to comments on your favourites, they are only my opinion and I am often wrong!

great report JD..

scary to think that cai/fu can be undone so easily.. would guess that Yap has had the MD pairs studying their opponents carefully then practicing the necessary strategies to ensure success.

perhaps MAL will rise again with Yap at the helm.. and with Li Mao and Rexy on board there is certainly a lot of hope. Rexy in my eyes is the king of doubles coaching.

Coops

good report:) enjoyable read...at least there weren't any inury problems with cai/fu. watching their last matches, they do seem to be rather predictable in their shots and covering/movement. remember to do another report today! have a good time

Thanks for the report jamesd20, very interesting, especially about the young MD pairs...

Man I really really agree with your points.

Your description of the Malay young MDs reminds of me the young Candra/Sigit, fast, powerful, yet have the delicate touches. Do you think Tazari/Lin is anywhere close to C/S in 1997/98? Cai/Fu have been having problems with young and fast opponents all the time. In WC, when Chan/Koo got used to Cai/Fu's attacks, they made Cai/Fu look silly. If Cai/Fu, especially Fu, cannot refine their skills, they will have little chance to get major titles (WC, AE, Olympic) in the future. I think Rexy really taught Malay pairs how to beat Chinese MD...

Is Ayob under Li Mao? If not, It seems all of those not under Li Mao are kind of lazy on court and wasting their racquet skills... :-)

Totally agree with you on Chen Jin. In all his games I watched, he won because he is young and fast. However, he should remember that he is definitely not faster than Xia Xuanze or Lin Dan around the same age. Xia definitely has no chance in the future to get WC/AE/Olympic, and Lin Dan is getting slower and slower as time goes by. Will Chen Jin be as lucky as Xia and get to the top just before his stamina ceased to be enough to support his playing style?

Chen Hong is getting smarter. I really liked some his shots in the German open. The only and critical thing that he should learn is how to read his opponents and how to vary his shots to get a winner. Currently Peter Gade is the best on this. In the past some people that impressed me include Zhao Jianhua, Morten Frost and Joko (Very weird that Sony seems nowhere close to Joko regarding this quality). If Chen Hong can learn something from them, he will have a bright future.

Choonghann seems lost recently. His is too old to play his old style, and not comfortable with a more relaxed style. I don't think he will have much chance in the future. :-(
Here is my own opinion on day two.

The overriding memeory of the day is good news for BF malaysian memebers though, as the quality of their new MD pairs is very high. They are fast and powerful like many yound MD players, but have very good variation, supreme defences and a patience and shot selection that defies their ages. Rexy really has done well!

Tazari and Lin in particular were tremendousley impressive. They has an easy game against a young ENG pair in the afternoon (although they showed some promise too), but the way they made Cai/Fu look silly was unbelievable. They never missed a trick on the defence, hoisting it over CHN pair heads from midcourt many times, and driving them back when they were flat. their midcourt play made CHN pair look slow. and although netplay was never a strength of CHN they totally outplayed them here. CHN pair didn't know what to do.

Abdul/Gan wre also very good against JR+steffensen. they play a different style to Tazari/lin however as they are much more agressive, however when needing to defend they performed very well too.

Blair and Clarke looked sharp against Kido/setiawan in the afternoon, but never got started against guo/Xie.

In the Mens singles there were a few good games, but I was also very impressed with LCW game. He is much stronger than last year when I saw him, and a lot quicker. WYY is not a top quality player, but he didn't deserve to lose 15-0 in the second. LCW was just so in control, and Wu couldn't finish when he did get counter attacks.

Sairul Ayob match against KJ was awful. I could see why the MAL national team kicked him out. He is a really lazy player, who has good racket skills, but doesn't want to work hard, and his footwork is sloppy. He does have very good racket skills however and flicked off the net wrong footing KJ a few times, but he seemed reluctant to take on KJ at the net. Very disappointed in this match.

Chen Jin vs Boonsak was a very good match, but actually i wasn't too impressed with chen jin. his skills and techniques are not to the level of Chen Hong/Bao at the same age, and relies a lot on physical game. He reminded me of a chinese version of anders boessen! maybe I caught him on a bad day, and will make a better judgement after today and maybe tomorrow. He won however, so can't take too much away.

Chen Hong on the other hand is rising in my estimations all the time, and I thought highly of him before. He is virtually a complete player now and should be at the peak of his career. His techniques in footwork and strokes are as good as ever. His speed is still there, although not quite as fast as 2-3 years ago, but now his weakness in his defence and patience appears to be being eradicated.

WCH never got started, he seems to have lost his powerful smash and is trying to be a patient rally player, but he makes too many mistakes in this more relaxed mode.

Didn't take notes of any womens matches, not even know who won WS matches. only that the swedish pair played very well knocking out the German pair (Good news for mag!)

Running out of time to go see QF now, sorry to be brief will report more after weekend. Please don't take offences to comments on your favourites, they are only my opinion and I am often wrong!