ive been watching many videos on Cai Yun & Fu Haifeng and their matches from 2003- present (2009) and it seems like cai yun has tremendously improved during the late stage of his career. i mean hes 29 now? (or 30?) and his performance is even better than before. he is alot more well-rounded. his defence has improved tremendously, as well as his tactics, shots and their placements. oh and he is alot stronger as well. does this happen often to many athletes in many sports, or is it a rare feat? and doesnt he plan on retiring after hitting 30?
i think particularly in badminton its a common occurance. Younger players tend to play an aggresive based style of power and speed. As the players mature and age they start to use the different aspects of badminton and really think about how to gain the best advantages. Even watching Fu Hai Feng play his regular style was normally SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH! But now he is starting to think alot more. Mixing it up and changing directions and speed to work the rallys in his favour. But it does just seem to come with age and maturing. Sometimes it happens as late as 28-30 years. Other times it can be seen changing in players as young as 24-26.
the danes are a good example of late bloomers. but then again, you do get some exceptional young players like lee yong dae who play with such maturity at a tender age.
yup i agree with dreamzz.... Lee yong Dae playing style really2, effective and efficient, shuttle placement was just sweet and nice... i vote for INa- Hendra Setiawan also whose placement and control is nice...although he is not as young as LYD, but he is quite young-middle aged...
i dunno, i think in MD, most players hit their prime when they are 28-30 yrs...e.g. candra/sigit 2003 (both were 28) MD world champ finalists, AE champs and again in 2005 (both 30) world champ finalists, 2005 was a good year for the pair...reaching world no. 1 by the end of that year having won numerous amount of tourneys... and of course uncle tony won his second world champ title in 2005 beating candra/sigit when he was 30! 1996 MD olympic ricky/rexy...rexy i believe was 28 when he won that gold. 2004 MD olympic kim/ha...kim dong moon was 29?ish? i agree that european players are late bloomers...jens eriksen/martin lungaard 2004/2006 AE champs..jens winning at the age of 34/36 pretty impressive stuff...and hats off to peter gade who's still making appearances in finals... thomas laybourn our reigning XD world champ is 32 this year?- abit off topic i know... cai yun has been really impressive...winning a second world title in 3 years...i mean his success is definitely helped by the fact that fu hai feng can virtually kill any shuttle from the back...eventhough there was a period of time when himself and FHF could not find themselves a way out of 1st and 2nd rounds...i guess its a 'mid-life' crisis in a badminton career, eh?i have to say though, compared to any MD pairs, cy/fhf play really well when it comes to team events during sudirman cup 07/09 they were unbeaten through out the whole tourney...
I totally agree. One of the exceptions is LYD, who got the Gold Medal in the Olympics at the age of 20 in XD! And the title of All England MD!
More exceptions are PG, LD, and Taufik (MS players...). Both were dominant players when they were under 20 years old.
according to the thread title, i would say "yes" 1) lack of good players in MD department of CHI 2) The gap btw CHI MD and other country MAS/INA/KOR/DEN is quite far, until the raise of CY/FHF 3) when CY/FHF starts to show their capabilities in world badminton, CY is counted as middle-aged player, if i not mistaken he was 24-25 years old 4) MD department has been always more challenges as compare to other event. So to be all round players mostly based on experience on court (except LYD, he is a very talented player, no doubt)