badMania
09-02-2006, 12:38 PM
So, two weeks of competition have just been concluded. Team Indonesia managed to win 2 golds and 2 silvers. The haul is probably less than expected (4), but, I am pretty satisfied with it. So, let me review the performance of the players involved in the these two opens.
MEN'S SINGLES
Taufik Hidayat -- BELOW AVERAGE
Let's face it, he has not really adapted to the new scoring system as well as the other top players have. He reached the last 16 and QF in the two events and have not beaten any top 20 players in the past 2 weeks. This was further worsened by his walkout in the QF match against LD. His absurb behavior is puzzling many people, the latest one include PBSI officials back home in JKT. They originally thought that he was injured! It will take a miracle for him to win the WC. But, again, I don't think he even care about it now!
Sony Dwi Kuncoro -- SATISFACTORY
He had a bad draw in the Korea Open, with a first round match against Boonsak and I expected him to lose in that match. However, he compensated for that with strong performances in the HK Open, reaching the QF with victories over Ng Wei and Chen Hong. He is still not yet in top form, so, let's give him some time. I think with some luck in the draw, he can reach the last 16 or even QF in the WC.
Simon Santoso -- AVERAGE
Simon has still not delivered the goods in the sense that he always loses to those players he is expected to lose to (such as Lee Hyun Il and Chen Yu). He better improves, otherwise, his tenure in Pelatnas is going to be cut short due to underperformance!
WOMEN'S SINGLES -- no comments because both players suffered from fatigue due to missing their early flights to HKG.
MEN'S DOUBLES
Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan -- EXCELLENT! Kido/Hendra start to show why they should be Team Indonesia's no 1 pair now with a semi-final finish in Korea Open and a gold in the Hong Kong Open. They have defeated some of the top pairs including the top two seeds for the WC (Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae and Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah), a former world champion in Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen, Gan Teik Chai/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (ranked 10), Kristoff Hopp/Ingo Kindervater (ranked 19) and two scratch pairings in Guo Zhendong/Xu Chen and Sudket Prapakamol/Songpol Anukritayawan. Unfortunately, Kido/Hendra won't be in the top 8 seeds for the WC. They miss out on the last one to their compatriot Luluk/Alvent by only 45 points! Still, I am encouraged by their progress and they should go far. With a good draw, I will expect them to reach at least the quarter-final at the WC.
Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto -- POOR. A disastrous fortnight for Luluk/Alvent which began with a defeat at the hands of an unknown English pair in the first round of the Korea Open. They managed to beat the English pair (albeit in 3 sets) but lost to a Chinese scratch pair. They better buck up or risk being split. Thankfully, they will be seeded 8th for the WC and they should reach at least quarter-final. With a good draw, I hope they can repeat their performance in reaching the semi-final.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Jo Novita/Gresya Polii -- VERY GOOD. they have shown good progress over the past one year and it culminated in a second-placing at the Korea Open last week with notable victories over an upcoming Chinese pair in Pan Pan/Tian Qing and one of their arch-rival Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing. Lucky for them, Lee Hyo Jung was injured in the semi-final match and they advanced to the final. Nevertheless, it represented their best achievement in a 6* tournament. They were placed in a hard quarter in the HK Open draw and started with a victory over Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota. Unfortunately, they failed to reach the QF with a defeat at the hands of the best European pair in Gail Emms/Donna Kellogg, who is also among one of the top 4 seeds for the WC. I hope that they can reach the quarter-final at the WC!
Lita Nurlita/Nathalia Poluakan -- GOOD. Nobody expected them to reach the semi-finals last week and they did it with notable victories over 3 European pairs, including Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg, before losing to the big winners of the 2 opens (Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen). Unfortunately, they were immediately drawn against Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing and lost in rubber-sets. Lita/Nathalia should be sent to more tournaments if they are to break the top 20s.
MIXED DOUBLES
Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir -- EXCELLENT! It would have been a flawless performance if they beat Zheng Bo/Zhao Tingting today. However, the Chinese pair looked sharper and they deserved the victory. Nevertheless, to come home with one gold and one silver after two hard weeks is a feat that not many can accomplish. In addition, they have beaten Sudket/Saralee twice in a row, the top two mixed Danish pairs and of course their arch-rival and main rival for the WC title Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen. They will be the top seed for the WC and they should reach the semi-finals. I hope they will avoid meeting Chinese pairs before that stage. Their chance of a repeat title at the WC is very very high esp since Robertson/Emms are not in good shape lately and the injury to Zhang Jun yesterday.
Mohd Rizal/Gresya Polii -- SATISFACTORY. A pass mark to Rizal/Gresya because of the tough matches they had. They only won 1 match, beating the young Korean pair Yoo/Ha and lost two matches, one to Anthony Clark/Donna Kellogg and the other one to Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms. To be fair to them, both losses are to top 10 pairs and they are expected to lose. The fact that they are included in the 6* events indicate that Richard Mainaky sees some potential in them to be a strong backup pair to Nova/Butet. The points from these 2 tournaments will also be valuable as they continue to rise up the ranking table to reach the top 25 with just 6 tournaments under their belt. They have a high chance of ending the year with a top 15 ranking if they are sent to the Japan, China and Denmark Open.
Anggun Nugroho/Vita Marissa -- POOR. As a senior pair, they failed to win a match in the past fortnight...very disappointing indeed. Except for that semi-final spot at the Malaysia Open, Anggun/Vita have yet to perform well.
MEN'S SINGLES
Taufik Hidayat -- BELOW AVERAGE
Let's face it, he has not really adapted to the new scoring system as well as the other top players have. He reached the last 16 and QF in the two events and have not beaten any top 20 players in the past 2 weeks. This was further worsened by his walkout in the QF match against LD. His absurb behavior is puzzling many people, the latest one include PBSI officials back home in JKT. They originally thought that he was injured! It will take a miracle for him to win the WC. But, again, I don't think he even care about it now!
Sony Dwi Kuncoro -- SATISFACTORY
He had a bad draw in the Korea Open, with a first round match against Boonsak and I expected him to lose in that match. However, he compensated for that with strong performances in the HK Open, reaching the QF with victories over Ng Wei and Chen Hong. He is still not yet in top form, so, let's give him some time. I think with some luck in the draw, he can reach the last 16 or even QF in the WC.
Simon Santoso -- AVERAGE
Simon has still not delivered the goods in the sense that he always loses to those players he is expected to lose to (such as Lee Hyun Il and Chen Yu). He better improves, otherwise, his tenure in Pelatnas is going to be cut short due to underperformance!
WOMEN'S SINGLES -- no comments because both players suffered from fatigue due to missing their early flights to HKG.
MEN'S DOUBLES
Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan -- EXCELLENT! Kido/Hendra start to show why they should be Team Indonesia's no 1 pair now with a semi-final finish in Korea Open and a gold in the Hong Kong Open. They have defeated some of the top pairs including the top two seeds for the WC (Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae and Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah), a former world champion in Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen, Gan Teik Chai/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (ranked 10), Kristoff Hopp/Ingo Kindervater (ranked 19) and two scratch pairings in Guo Zhendong/Xu Chen and Sudket Prapakamol/Songpol Anukritayawan. Unfortunately, Kido/Hendra won't be in the top 8 seeds for the WC. They miss out on the last one to their compatriot Luluk/Alvent by only 45 points! Still, I am encouraged by their progress and they should go far. With a good draw, I will expect them to reach at least the quarter-final at the WC.
Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto -- POOR. A disastrous fortnight for Luluk/Alvent which began with a defeat at the hands of an unknown English pair in the first round of the Korea Open. They managed to beat the English pair (albeit in 3 sets) but lost to a Chinese scratch pair. They better buck up or risk being split. Thankfully, they will be seeded 8th for the WC and they should reach at least quarter-final. With a good draw, I hope they can repeat their performance in reaching the semi-final.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Jo Novita/Gresya Polii -- VERY GOOD. they have shown good progress over the past one year and it culminated in a second-placing at the Korea Open last week with notable victories over an upcoming Chinese pair in Pan Pan/Tian Qing and one of their arch-rival Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing. Lucky for them, Lee Hyo Jung was injured in the semi-final match and they advanced to the final. Nevertheless, it represented their best achievement in a 6* tournament. They were placed in a hard quarter in the HK Open draw and started with a victory over Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota. Unfortunately, they failed to reach the QF with a defeat at the hands of the best European pair in Gail Emms/Donna Kellogg, who is also among one of the top 4 seeds for the WC. I hope that they can reach the quarter-final at the WC!
Lita Nurlita/Nathalia Poluakan -- GOOD. Nobody expected them to reach the semi-finals last week and they did it with notable victories over 3 European pairs, including Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg, before losing to the big winners of the 2 opens (Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen). Unfortunately, they were immediately drawn against Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing and lost in rubber-sets. Lita/Nathalia should be sent to more tournaments if they are to break the top 20s.
MIXED DOUBLES
Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir -- EXCELLENT! It would have been a flawless performance if they beat Zheng Bo/Zhao Tingting today. However, the Chinese pair looked sharper and they deserved the victory. Nevertheless, to come home with one gold and one silver after two hard weeks is a feat that not many can accomplish. In addition, they have beaten Sudket/Saralee twice in a row, the top two mixed Danish pairs and of course their arch-rival and main rival for the WC title Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen. They will be the top seed for the WC and they should reach the semi-finals. I hope they will avoid meeting Chinese pairs before that stage. Their chance of a repeat title at the WC is very very high esp since Robertson/Emms are not in good shape lately and the injury to Zhang Jun yesterday.
Mohd Rizal/Gresya Polii -- SATISFACTORY. A pass mark to Rizal/Gresya because of the tough matches they had. They only won 1 match, beating the young Korean pair Yoo/Ha and lost two matches, one to Anthony Clark/Donna Kellogg and the other one to Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms. To be fair to them, both losses are to top 10 pairs and they are expected to lose. The fact that they are included in the 6* events indicate that Richard Mainaky sees some potential in them to be a strong backup pair to Nova/Butet. The points from these 2 tournaments will also be valuable as they continue to rise up the ranking table to reach the top 25 with just 6 tournaments under their belt. They have a high chance of ending the year with a top 15 ranking if they are sent to the Japan, China and Denmark Open.
Anggun Nugroho/Vita Marissa -- POOR. As a senior pair, they failed to win a match in the past fortnight...very disappointing indeed. Except for that semi-final spot at the Malaysia Open, Anggun/Vita have yet to perform well.