China Badminton Super league 2016-2017

Somebody wrote last year the runner-up got RMB3 mil. Another said, even the 4th place finisher this year gets RMB 700K.

Why didn't they tell us how much the prize money is this year.

 

Huh, why me? I'm flattered.You can do it too. Anybody can as well.

 

Thanks so much for your compliment. Your frequent participation in this thread, including everyone else's, all the views and opinions have contributed much to its liveliness, helpfulness, fun and enjoyment, esp during this lull period before the new campaign season opens.

Many thanks to all of you. Cheers !

 

For me the highlights and most memorable moments and thoughts of the CBSL 2016-2017 are the following:

1) The best match of the tournament goes to Lin Dan vs Chen Long, much awaited and it didn't disappoint in being very well-fought, of the highest quality, an epic battle full of excitement and thrilling as it went the full distance with Lin Dan only managing to break free at 18-all to reel off the next three points to emerge triumphant ; in particular , we were fortunate to witness glimpses of Lin Dan at his best, reminiscent of Super Dan as we've not seen for quite some time.

This should bode well for Lin Dan and his ardent fans, the more so when he's been hit by a sex scandal that many feared would damage his role model image as a badminton icon. To his great credit and good fortune in having a self-sacrificing and long-suffering forgiving wife in Xie Xingfang, he appeared determined to pick up the pieces and make amends by his repentance, offering a sincere public apology to his beloved wife and family, and showing his willpower to redeem himself and not let his legions of fans down by continuing to work hard on his game and proving he still has what it takes to make a positive impact in world badminton going forward.

That takes discernment, honesty, self-awareness and courage, and as a fan, I'm glad and optimistic that we may see Lin Dan do better in 2017 than he did the last couple of years, thus giving us at least one more year of great badminton from the super maestro , if not longer.

2) If there is a MVP award, I'd also pick Lin Dan for his unbeaten record of 8 wins out of 8 matches played among those who played at least 4 or 5, discounting those who only played a few as they aren't representative enough.

3) Two other matches worth mentioning to me also involved Lin Dan - one with the 29-year-old Zhou Wenlong and the other with the 24-year-old Qiao Bin, the former put up such a spirited fight as to almost create a sensation if not for his injury in the middle of the 3rd set which forced him to concede the match, and the latter rose to the occasion to grapple with Lin Dan in a hard-fought three-setter, a fascinating battle to keep us riveted to our seats until the very end. Just as in his encounter with Chen Long The Dragon, Lin Dan also had to dig deep to overcome the two aforementioned.

4) Women's Singles is a mixed bag. One, the 23-year-old Hui Xirui is a surprise package, she performed above herself to dispose of a number of players much better known and higher ranked than her internationally, viz. Sun Yu (once), He Bingjiao(twice), Chen Yufei(once). This ex-national WS player, I believe, would've made CBA taken notice of her remarkable performance and possibly invite her back to the national team in which case we should see her return to the international scene soon, hopefully. Two, negatively speaking, was the lackluster performance of He Bingjiao, a rising star who recently captured three international titles out of 5 tournaments played in two consecutive months, two of which are Superseries level, an outstanding achievement for a 19-year-old in her maiden year of the pro circuit; however, as I understand from Gong Weijie, she is affected by some injury concerns lately, mainly to her left knee, so I can only wish her full and speedy recovery as well as express my hope for her to extend her extraordinary run of top-notch results, the sooner the better. Three, Sun Yu impressed me yesterday in the way she disposed of He Bingjiao and I hope she she can raise her game another level. Fourth, Chen Yufei, the WJC and Macau Open'16 winner, has proven herself a very promising up-and-comer; more importantly as the commentator Gong Weijie pointed out, she exhibits a certain degree of maturity and experience remarkable for her age 18, steady and fairly consistent in the face of adversity for someone her age.

5) As for Men's Singles,I can't help but express my disappointment that Xue Song has still not been able to impress as he once did at the All England last year when he unfortunately sustained a debilitating knee injury, ACL and meniscus tear, followed by another ankle injury after he made a comeback six months later. Personally, I very much look forward to seeing him make another breakthrough in his career as I believe he could. On a positive note, 20-year-old Shi Yuqi's performance is highly commendable, in particular his sensational encounter with Lin Dan, a tight, grueling three-setter where he came close to causing a huge upset when leading 18-14 in the decider before Lin Dan suddenly stepped it up to deny the young man by virtue of the immense experience, maturity and mental toughness as Lin Dan is well-quipped with.

Last but not least, I'd like the CBSL to study and learn from other professional leagues such as PBL and the Purple league, adopt whatever is good and successful from them so as to continually improve and raise their own standard. Specifically, I hope CBSL invite even more foreign players to participate in the league and, if possible, let the foreign imports set up a team of their own as doing that I think may significantly heighten the competitiveness and entertainment value of the event.

 

You are most welcome.

 

Ah, how not to oblige your innocent request though I am feeling a bit lazy after the CNY celebration.

On the whole, the CBSL 2016-2017 is considered to have concluded successfully. No doubt there is room for improvement, specifically speaking as a badminton fan, I'd like to see more and better livestreams of as many matches as possible, particularly all those involving Lin Dan, Chen long, He Bingjiao, Shi Yuqi, Chen Yufei, just to name a few, instead of selectively on one court only most of the time.

I was esp pissed off when Lin Dan's match with Shi Yuqi was left out.

Is it too much to ask that every tie or match be livestreamed for us viewers to pick and choose ? At the very least, provide delayed telecast of all those matches not shown live. I understand CCTV-5 is prime time TV and they only want to telecast three hours live at most but what about the livestreams, why limit them ? That's my main grouse.

 

If only you're the one posing with her in the picture, I can imagine you beside yourself with joy.