English Nationals 2008

[Ben Beckman]

Hi Everyone,

This is mainly to the British members but have any of you got any thoughts on the seedings for the nationals or any thoughts in general. I'm 6th seed and aiming to better my quarter final place of last year.

Seedings found on www.badmintonengland.co.uk (http://www.badmintonengland.co.uk)

Ben

[coops241180]

hehe - damn, you beat me to it -

congrats on being seeded

nice to see that clark / robertson are getting back together for the tournament..

i think the mens doubles should be interesting this year - altho blair/lindley could run away with it.

i'm waiting for city council to let me know if i can shoot at the tournament so if you see a young lad with limp taking pics, you'll know it's me - give me a nudge.

[Ben Beckman]

the draw is out:-

http://www.nationalbadmintonchamps.co.uk/draws.htm

[coops241180]

hehe - yeah i took a look. you'll be meeting tim vickers in the second round. if he manages to beat wrigley - he used to play for my club, but he left us last year..

good luck!

[crosscourt]

I've never been to this. What's the atmosphere like?

[coops241180]

i've linejudged at it for the last 4 years..

there isnt really any atmosphere - typical british reserve... and it's not in a big venue.. friday the stands are mostly empty - usually sold out on sunday for the finals tho.. and quite busy for the late session on saturday when it get to quarter and semi final phases..

[d65up2]

How is it compared to the Indonesian National Championship say Kejurnas cos I heard my fren said England is currently rank no 2 in Badminton after China and would be seeded 2nd in Thomas Cup....can u guys confirm on this??

[andy_s]

What has happened to Nick Kidd?
Is he injured? He seems to of dropped off the radar completely!!!!

[coops241180]

How is it compared to the Indonesian National Championship say Kejurnas cos I heard my fren said England is currently rank no 2 in Badminton after China and would be seeded 2nd in Thomas Cup....can u guys confirm on this??

hehe - i'd be incredibly shocked if we were seeded 2nd. denmark have stronger players in all fields - apart from ladies doubles perhaps..

indonesia have stronger MD, XD (hmm), MS. so perhaps we could beat indo's if we won the mixed but i think nova/vita would beat nathan/gail these days

malyasia - are stronger too - MS, MD, LS they would certainly win..


What has happened to Nick Kidd?
Is he injured? He seems to of dropped off the radar completely!!!!

i'm not sure what happened to Nick this year.. perhaps he's bored of it.. maybe focussing on his training for the olympics - altho i don't know if he'll qualify, andy smith is looking pretty good for the only english mens singles player for the olympics - he hardly ever turns up to the nationals..

MS will be wide open this year i think.. Rajiv is favourite, but Nathan Rice and Aamir Ghaffar can beat him, amongst others - it will all depend who wants it on the day.

unfortunately BE red tape is preventing me from going to take photo's....

[kwun]

How is it compared to the Indonesian National Championship say Kejurnas cos I heard my fren said England is currently rank no 2 in Badminton after China and would be seeded 2nd in Thomas Cup....can u guys confirm on this??

perhaps seeded #2 in the European qualifier?

with all due respects, but i too cannot see how England can be seed #2 if seeded at all.

[d65up2]

perhaps seeded #2 in the European qualifier?

with all due respects, but i too cannot see how England can be seed #2 if seeded at all.

Ya I think thats the case I read my uni article wrongly...Yap England is seeded no 2 in Euro qualifier both in Thomas n Uber Cup...Denmark is first seed but instead they wrote China.....Publishers these days...

[jug8man]

Carl Baxter played pretty ok at recent Malaysia Open. I don't quite see his name in the draw.

Tobey Honey seems quite famous.

[coops241180]

hehe - Carl Baxter doesn't qualify apparently - i don't think he's played enough tournaments at home.... i think :S, either that - or he's not been 'english' for long enough... i think he is a foreign import..

hehe - toby honey - i think he's been studying this year - not played many tournaments - but he's a bit of a fighter and will give any of the players a run for their money..

[jug8man]

hehe - Carl Baxter doesn't qualify apparently - i don't think he's played enough tournaments at home.... i think :S, either that - or he's not been 'english' for long enough... i think he is a foreign import..

hehe - toby honey - i think he's been studying this year - not played many tournaments - but he's a bit of a fighter and will give any of the players a run for their money..

I think his involvement in international events must have clashed with to many local matches... What do you mean he's an 'import'??? sounds English to me or is he Welsh???

His BWF ranking is under ENG.

[coops241180]

he's like badminton englands answer to greg rusedski - he's canadian :)

i think he has to spend three years here before he can enter the nationals..

however he is allowed to enter BWF events for England (that sounds a bit crazy - but it is badminton England we're talking about.)

[jug8man]

Hilarious.

I hear the BUSA twice champion Harry Wright is up against the much talked about Toby in the 1st round. Who'd win u reckon?

[coops241180]

no idea. bound to be a 3 setter - altho looking at the last elite event Harry pulled out injured.. so you never know - he might not get past two games..

[george@chongwei]

from www.badzine.info (http://www.badzine.info)


http://www.badzine.info/images/stories/News/ROBERTSON-EMMS-63-ENG-YL-FrenchOpen2007.jpgPeter Gade, Gail Emms and Thomas Laybourn are amongst the big names which will be missing from the National Championships which are going under way this week end in most European Countries. Peter Gade, still not feeling well after his come back from Korea, has bowed out of the tournament he's won so many times, leaving to Kenneth Jonassen the best opportunity to win.

Mixed double player Thomas Laybourn, also, had to withdraw and left his spot together with Kamilla Rytter Juhl to his friend Lars Paaske.

In England, Gail Emms also has still not recovered from the Illness she got in the far East and will be skipping the National Championships. Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg now look as strong favorites for the title. Roberston is still on in the men's double with Clark.



In France, the return of the Former National Champion Nabil Lasmari as top seed of the event has led to some controversy as the shuttler – who has a double nationality – is representing Algeria in the International competition – he has his ticket for Beijing almost secured for the African country – but still participating in the National Championships in France. And his chances to claim the title are good as he’s shown in the French Interclub he is still amongst the very best.

All these National Championships can be followed in the local versions of Badzine : www.badzine.de (http://www.badzine.de/) for Germany, www.badzine.fr (http://www.badzine.fr/) for France, with an exclusive TV coverage on www.badzine.tv (http://www.badzine.tv)

[coops241180]

certainly is - i didn't know that the danes and the french had their national championships around the same weekend though... might explain why raphy hasn't been answering his email... he'll be at the french no doubt!

[jug8man]

Interesting. Even the Irish Nationals are on Feb 2nd.

[coops241180]

hehe - harry wright managed a whole 6 minutes before retiring...

all the seeds thru apart from james allison - altho losing to chris dakin, who has always been a dark horse..

well done ben - think you should get past Wrigley to set up a meeting with Nathan Rice in the quarters..

Constable vs Honey should be a good game..

[geebees90]

hehe - harry wright managed a whole 6 minutes before retiring...

all the seeds thru apart from james allison - altho losing to chris dakin, who has always been a dark horse..

well done ben - think you should get past Wrigley to set up a meeting with Nathan Rice in the quarters..

Constable vs Honey should be a good game..

Hi coops
Hope you're doing good......

Thanks that you're keeping us updated, Seems you're there in velodrome. I'm a cousin and a very good friend of Aamir GHAFFAR. My name is Jalil. So could you please take photos of him if possible for you and if allowed. I'll be very thankful. HE ofcourse doesn't look good with that long beard though....hehehehe.........Hope to hear from you soon.......

P.S some guys have been asking about Nick Kidd, so let me tell you that he's had a wrist surgery so He's been off for a few months, He will be back within one or two months..........Wish him Qiuck recovery........

[d65up2]

Interesting although I think Kejurnas in INA is more prestigious but this one is all rite seems to be well attended...

Ayo Indonesia!

[coops241180]

Hi coops
Hope you're doing good......

Thanks that you're keeping us updated, Seems you're there in velodrome. I'm a cousin and a very good friend of Aamir GHAFFAR. My name is Jalil. So could you please take photos of him if possible for you and if allowed. I'll be very thankful. HE ofcourse doesn't look good with that long beard though....hehehehe.........Hope to hear from you soon.......

P.S some guys have been asking about Nick Kidd, so let me tell you that he's had a wrist surgery so He's been off for a few months, He will be back within one or two months..........Wish him Qiuck recovery........

hi there - unfortunately i'm not in the velodrome - couldn't get accreditation at such short notice unfortunatley... perhaps next year.

if you visit this website: http://www.nationalbadmintonchamps.co.uk it's got plenty of information and reasonably up to date results and pictures of a lot of the players - i've seen some pics of aamir on there too..

ben's out of the competition now tho - he did well - managing to take a game off nathan rice. the semi's should be real good. mark constable is looking fairly hot.. be interesting to see what ouseph does with him.. and aamir vs nathan rice should be good game as well.. aamir has the psychological edge i think after beating him in the recent wimbledon elite event.

[geebees90]

hi there - unfortunately i'm not in the velodrome - couldn't get accreditation at such short notice unfortunatley... perhaps next year.

if you visit this website: http://www.nationalbadmintonchamps.co.uk it's got plenty of information and reasonably up to date results and pictures of a lot of the players - i've seen some pics of aamir on there too..

ben's out of the competition now tho - he did well - managing to take a game off nathan rice. the semi's should be real good. mark constable is looking fairly hot.. be interesting to see what ouseph does with him.. and aamir vs nathan rice should be good game as well.. aamir has the psychological edge i think after beating him in the recent wimbledon elite event.

Hey......

Thanks for the info, I had already visited that website. Thats appreciative. Well who do you think will win the finalsssssssss........Difficult enough to predict......Ouseph is fit and Aamir had made a good comeback after a 5 months absense (april to september 2007)......What do you think??????

I wish Aamir wins..........

Good luck Aamir.......................

[coops241180]

hmmm - my predictions:
MS - Ouseph in three (sorry geebee)
MD - Clark / Robertson - i'd like to see these two at the olympics - but don't think Nathan will play MD internationally
XD - Clark/Kellog
WS - Tracey Hallam
WD - 50/50 kellogg is obviously incredibly good, but she's with hallam who isn't her normal partner or a singles player - but has huge experience on court.. Munt/Nicholas also aren't a regular pair, but both have plenty of experience at doubles.. probably a three gamers - but you could get a good return betting on kellogg/hallam :D

[geebees90]

hmmm - my predictions:
MS - Ouseph in three (sorry geebee)
MD - Clark / Robertson - i'd like to see these two at the olympics - but don't think Nathan will play MD internationally
XD - Clark/Kellog
WS - Tracey Hallam
WD - 50/50 kellogg is obviously incredibly good, but she's with hallam who isn't her normal partner or a singles player - but has huge experience on court.. Munt/Nicholas also aren't a regular pair, but both have plenty of experience at doubles.. probably a three gamers - but you could get a good return betting on kellogg/hallam :D

Hi......
Well I think you're right, Ouseph may win this time. He's younger, stronger and a bit better than ghaffar appearantly at present. But I'll be pleased if GHAFFAR wins it.......(because of Personal relations)

:D WD is interesting......I wish HALLAM and Kellog win........I would like to see a clip of this game, to see how HALLAM handles in doubles......

Cooppsss you're not going to see matches this time??you couldn't get tickets??

[coops241180]

i usually go and line judge, but ruptured my achilles 3 months ago, so wasn't sure i was going to be able to drive so i didn't volunteer, but i've just started driving, and instead of line judging i thought i'd try to go take pics - but it was far too late to organise accreditation.. so i'm not there this year.. hopefully i'll be snapping next year :D

Hallam seems to have handled the doubles fine - altho it'll be interesting how she manages playing two finals on the same day.. i would imagine it shouldn't be too hard for her - as a singles player she will be incredibly fit.. tho both games will be testing for her.

schedule shows that her singles is the 2nd game on, and the ladies doubles is the 4th game on - separated by the mens singles.. they're starting with the mixed and finishing with the mens doubles..

should be a good day.... shame BE don't use livescore :(

[geebees90]

i usually go and line judge, but ruptured my achilles 3 months ago, so wasn't sure i was going to be able to drive so i didn't volunteer, but i've just started driving, and instead of line judging i thought i'd try to go take pics - but it was far too late to organise accreditation.. so i'm not there this year.. hopefully i'll be snapping next year :D

Hallam seems to have handled the doubles fine - altho it'll be interesting how she manages playing two finals on the same day.. i would imagine it shouldn't be too hard for her - as a singles player she will be incredibly fit.. tho both games will be testing for her.

schedule shows that her singles is the 2nd game on, and the ladies doubles is the 4th game on - separated by the mens singles.. they're starting with the mixed and finishing with the mens doubles..

should be a good day.... shame BE don't use livescore :(

Hi....
I hope you've recovered fully now......Well this forum seems to be not attracting alot of fans as English's singles level is n't as high as the world's top 10 or 20.......Well I saw other countries are using livescoring and I think BE should have used Livescoring too.....However nationalbadmintonchamps.co.uk website is quite appreciative and attractive.....Lets lookforward to a great finals day......I wish all the matches are thrilling today.......

Good luck HALLAM....Hope to see you double crowned today...........

[george@chongwei]

so, who`s winning then>>???

[coops241180]

doesn't start til 2pm GMT george... and they probably won't put the results on til the end of the whole competition at 7ish...

the daft thing about the livescoring is that they'll use the same rubbish Horizon one that they used last year - and all of us lot managed to crash it because it couldn't handle the traffic. fingers crossed somebody in BWF will have made them use the tournamentsoftware.com one!!

[geebees90]

doesn't start til 2pm GMT george... and they probably won't put the results on til the end of the whole competition at 7ish...

the daft thing about the livescoring is that they'll use the same rubbish Horizon one that they used last year - and all of us lot managed to crash it because it couldn't handle the traffic. fingers crossed somebody in BWF will have made them use the tournamentsoftware.com one!!

I wish there was a livescoring facility for this Nationals........And I believe no TV channel will broadcost......Do you guys expect Badminton to become the No.1 Racket sport globally instead Tennis?????

[Armor_tec_14]

I wish there was a livescoring facility for this Nationals........And I believe no TV channel will broadcost......Do you guys expect Badminton to become the No.1 Racket sport globally instead Tennis?????


I really dont think that will happen. In the near future anyway :(

[coops241180]

woop! hallam may have lost the singles - but she won the doubles with kellog - it's a shame gail would normally play with donna tho - she may struggle to find a partner with anybody else...

rajiv won the singles in three, liz cann won the singles in two, donna and anthony won the doubles incredibly easily.. nathan and clarky won the mens dead easily as well.. 21/11 21/12 i might be getting ahead of myself - but i think they'd manage pretty well on the international circuit- it's just weather lazy bum clarkson can be bothered playing both... he's not reknowned for his fitness.. whereas anthony clark's marked improvment in the last 2 years has been down to losing weight and getting fit

[Armor_tec_14]

I may have read it wrong but it seems as if you think that Kellogg and Hallam will be permanent partners. I don't think this is gonna happen. It's probably just a one off.

[coops241180]

i can't see that happening - donna and tracey couldn't make it in time for the olympics - and donna and gail are incredibly strong pair..

i think perhaps there is talk of tracey moving to doubles with donna if gail decides to retire after the olympics.. all the england stars are all pretty much at peak now.. in another 4 years they will all be too old (nathan, gail, donna, anthony will all be 30+) and england will be looking to the new blood..

[d65up2]

How is England new blood?? can they take England to win the Thomas Cup say in 5 years...like the next two Thomas Cup 2012 perhaps??

[Armor_tec_14]

i can't see that happening - donna and tracey couldn't make it in time for the olympics - and donna and gail are incredibly strong pair..

i think perhaps there is talk of tracey moving to doubles with donna if gail decides to retire after the olympics.. all the england stars are all pretty much at peak now.. in another 4 years they will all be too old (nathan, gail, donna, anthony will all be 30+) and england will be looking to the new blood..

Don't think that Tracey will move to doubles because I think she'll retire soon personally. After the beijing olympics , I dont thnk shel be around much and shes getting older now too.

[coops241180]

well - she may move to doubles because she older.. we'll see - it'll all be changed fro next season :d

nationals done for another year :D

i've found where some of the photo's for it are stored..
http://picasaweb.google.com/squashsite

[geebees90]

well - she may move to doubles because she older.. we'll see - it'll all be changed fro next season :d

nationals done for another year :D

i've found where some of the photo's for it are stored..
http://picasaweb.google.com/squashsite

Special Congrats to Rajiv......
Lets see what he can do in the All England and Thomas Cup......he will be definitely in the qualifiying rounds of All England, So I don't think if he can make it to the main draw If he's to play a top 30 player.......England's singles squad seems to be alot weaker than last year. There isn't any Nick Kidd, Not a full time Toby.......Carl Baxter has improved though.............

Good luck Rajiv and Aamir for the All england and all the tournaments..........

[coops241180]

i think the only person that qualifies straight into the main draw is andrew smith.. baxter, kidd, ghaffar, ouseph all end up in the qualifying draw.. not sure how many we're allowed in tho... i think because it's the all england they all get in..

[geebees90]

i think the only person that qualifies straight into the main draw is andrew smith.. baxter, kidd, ghaffar, ouseph all end up in the qualifying draw.. not sure how many we're allowed in tho... i think because it's the all england they all get in..

Hi.....

Yeah Andrew Smith has kept his ranking within top 30 almost.....I just talked to Aamir for 45 minutes.......I asked him about KIDD, He said KIDD is pretty unhappy with the BE and left for malaysia and is training there.......I want Taufik to play All England this year and again cause big upsets and win it.......Hehehehe It will be funny but seems more than difficult this time, at least he has been loosing to Lin dan quite easily......What do you think :P???:cool:

I wish my exams finish soon and I go to Malaysia for training too.........

[coops241180]

it doesn't surprise me - there isn't a great deal of funding for players over here. and an incredible amount of pressure on our mens singles players since we haven't had a mens singles player in the top 10 for such a long time.

none of our mens singles players have ever really performed on the international stage, altho i do remember aamir beating bao chunlai at one point which must've been the high point of his career. he's been out for a little while - perhaps he's going to come back renewed and fight to the top.

andy smith has never been under the BE's wing - he's at the KLRC and trains under Cheah Soon Kit with a number of other talented players.. it's hard to tell whether the coming olympics are the best ones for andy - he will probably still be playing well past the 2012 olympics which would be in his 'home' country

nick kidd - yeah - i'm not surprised.. the KLRC would be a good place for him too - but it's the funding side of things that causes problems.

[geebees90]

it doesn't surprise me - there isn't a great deal of funding for players over here. and an incredible amount of pressure on our mens singles players since we haven't had a mens singles player in the top 10 for such a long time.

none of our mens singles players have ever really performed on the international stage, altho i do remember aamir beating bao chunlai at one point which must've been the high point of his career. he's been out for a little while - perhaps he's going to come back renewed and fight to the top.

andy smith has never been under the BE's wing - he's at the KLRC and trains under Cheah Soon Kit with a number of other talented players.. it's hard to tell whether the coming olympics are the best ones for andy - he will probably still be playing well past the 2012 olympics which would be in his 'home' country

nick kidd - yeah - i'm not surprised.. the KLRC would be a good place for him too - but it's the funding side of things that causes problems.


Yeah exactly, Nick KIDD was twice National Champion and still he had some funding problems so he couldn't bear and went to Malaysia.....Players like Richard Vaughan isn't having any funding. So Its difficult to train and participate in Internationals on your own.

No Doubt Badminton is too tough with less rewards and most players are displeased with their fundings. I don't know how it could be improved.....I myself know that there isn't much in Badminton and you can't be rich even if you're a top 50 player, but still I'm willing to go for training on my own and be involved in Badminton professionally........Hey ccoooppppsss do you think it will be possible if clubs contribute, I mean each member pay like 5 or 10 pounds a month, That isn't too much for a person in England, and like that all over the world clubs generate these funds and give it directly to top players :P.........:D:D

P.S Whats your Name by the way??

[george@chongwei]

so andrew smith got win???

[coops241180]

exactly... he's a good player... just not good enough... hehe.. but he's was still the best in the country for a time.. he trains incredibly hard as well - i mean the guy has quads to put most bodybuilders to shame..

interesting you should mention members paying money - we already do -there is an affiliation fee to our national governing body - then a separate one to our county, then one more to our individual league.. on top of that we have lottery funding.. every time you buy a lottery ticket in the UK only some of it goes to prizes... the rest goes to charity projects and sport... the problem is that badminton isn't really high up onthe list- altho it is in the top 10 - and recent improvements in the england team are down to the lottery funding...

you won't recognise my name, i'm not national or even county standard.. :D
but i turn up in the strangest places.. either linejudging or hopefully taking pics.. :D perhaps one of these days i'll do my umpire training.. we'll see..

[coops241180]

so andrew smith got win???

err.. he ddn't play..

rajiv ouseph won.. he was european junior champion not so long ago - hopefully he is the future for english mens singles.. but we'll see.. it all depends on his fitness, injuries - who else comes thru..

[geebees90]

exactly... he's a good player... just not good enough... hehe.. but he's was still the best in the country for a time.. he trains incredibly hard as well - i mean the guy has quads to put most bodybuilders to shame..

interesting you should mention members paying money - we already do -there is an affiliation fee to our national governing body - then a separate one to our county, then one more to our individual league.. on top of that we have lottery funding.. every time you buy a lottery ticket in the UK only some of it goes to prizes... the rest goes to charity projects and sport... the problem is that badminton isn't really high up onthe list- altho it is in the top 10 - and recent improvements in the england team are down to the lottery funding...

you won't recognise my name, i'm not national or even county standard.. :D
but i turn up in the strangest places.. either linejudging or hopefully taking pics.. :D perhaps one of these days i'll do my umpire training.. we'll see..

Hehehehe, Well train as hard as andy does, So you won't have to linejudge, you'll be a player on court then :D:cool:.....

Well those money go to some authorities and they handle it the way they want, I mean guys at the Badmintoncentral.com to make an association, involve some of the top players and agree the fans all over the world to pay a particuler amount each month and then divide them into top 50 players.....I was just making an estimate and counting, If it goes the way I think then Badminton would be at the same level as Tennis....What do you think??????

P.S I would like to know your name Mr/Ms Linejudge/Umpire :P:D:D:D:cool::cool:

[coops241180]

hehe - i think the funding issue is just one part of a much bigger problem.. the general badminton community aren't going to cough up just to see the top 50 players get paid to play... if your players weren't winning or getting to the QF of international tournaments (much like the ENG players) i don't think english people would like to pay...

people will always argue that money should go into the grass roots as thats where the players of the future will come from..

hehe - i've pm'd you my real name :D

[**KZ**]

for now my eyes are set on the english XD pair of chris adcock and gabby white....world juniors runner-ups....would love to see that game in the finals between them and Lim/Ng...must be a thrilling match to watch....England has always produced at least one good pair for every new generation of players so these 2 might be the next.....it's good that badminton is starting to get more competition from europe...the Danes are going through ups and downs at the moment...

[coops241180]

hmmm, it's difficult to find the next pair... we have a few talented players.. langdridge, and middleton are looking good, lindley fits in there too.. adcock, adcock and eidestedt (he's very new -not sure where we got him from) are all interesting prospects, i'm not sure about the girls, certainly liza smith(nee parker), rayapanne, gabby white, sarah bok (looked good with archer this weekend) jenny wallwork are improving too.

when robertson/emms clark/kellog retire they will all benefit from more funding and more tournaments.

i think after the olympics the new stars will start showing up for england.. the older players (the four above and also people like jo nicholas, ella trip, natalie munt) will probably retire and give up their funding to the next generation.

every country goes thru ups and downs.. it all depends on resources..
the danes will always have players coming thru... it just happens at a slower rate than in asia.. simply because it's not the national sport.. unlike china, malaysia, indonesia where badminton is near the top of the list for funding and coverage..

[geebees90]

Hi........

It was good Nationals this time, funny because Hallam won the doubles title. and it would have been nicer if there were Nick KIDD and Andy Smith......I hope next time Andy Smith, KIDD, Rajiv and GHAFFAR and rest top players will participate in singles........

Now lets lookforward to good results from Rajiv and GHAFFAR in All England. GHAFFAR has always performed good in All Englands, Rajiv's turn now. But in superseries events its even too tough to get to the main draw.........in mixed It seems to be difficult for england to qualify for the finals............

P.S hey cooops thanks for sending the Private message, and thanks for leting me know :).......

[madbad]

he's like badminton englands answer to greg rusedski - he's canadian :)

i think he has to spend three years here before he can enter the nationals..

however he is allowed to enter BWF events for England (that sounds a bit crazy - but it is badminton England we're talking about.)

Carl "the traitor Rusedski" Baxter was the Canadian Junior Singles Champion in 2001 ;):D
http://www.badminton.ca/page.aspx?id=2270

[d65up2]

Hi........

It was good Nationals this time, funny because Hallam won the doubles title. and it would have been nicer if there were Nick KIDD and Andy Smith......I hope next time Andy Smith, KIDD, Rajiv and GHAFFAR and rest top players will participate in singles........

Now lets lookforward to good results from Rajiv and GHAFFAR in All England. GHAFFAR has always performed good in All Englands, Rajiv's turn now. But in superseries events its even too tough to get to the main draw.........in mixed It seems to be difficult for england to qualify for the finals............

P.S hey cooops thanks for sending the Private message, and thanks for leting me know :).......

So you think Gaffar and Ouseph can beat the INA trio???? Just asking...no harm done

[geebees90]

No, neither GHAFFAR nor Ouseph has beaten any indonesian so far. GHAFFAR hasn't played an indonesian yet, I'm sure he cant beat any indonesian even if he plays, however he has had some great results, beat Bao Chunlai, Shon Seung Mo, three times Dicky, very close in thomas cup finals against boonsak. So now GHAFFAR is thinking to retire the way he talked two days ago, he's fit now but he doesn't want to play anymore, however he's going to participate in Austrian, and thomas cup European qualifier.