huuh. Yes, When any top player like LCW, Gade, LD, Taufik etc. retire, then the tournaments after their retirement will be missing those. But that will be the same for China Masters, Japan Open, Denmark Open, French Open, China Open, Hong Kong Open, The SuperSeries Finals, All-Enland etc. as well. Many of the Danish pro's I've talked to rate the China Tournaments like China Masters very high! There is a lot of spectators and good arrangement, and last but not least they want to beat the Chineese players on their home-turf!! Beating the strong Chineese players when they are backed by their home crowd in their own "crib" is something most strong players really look forward to do!! Pretty good then lah, to be WR #1 without even trying :-D . Come on we all know LD, probably as well as LCW, wants to be WR1.. But if it comes down to prioritizing both problably wants OG and WC golds much more.. Especially since both have rached WR#1 and maintained it for long periods in their career..
If I'm not mistaken, attendance at the China Masters last year was pretty good, not least because it was part of the OLY qualifying period. This year's SO is unfortunately in the period just before the OG when many players would prefer to go easy on competition, and focus mainly on training/prep.
If I'm not mistaken, attendance at the China Masters last year was pretty good, not least because it was part of the OLY qualifying period. This year's SO is unfortunately in the period just before the OG when many players would prefer to go easy on competition, and focus mainly on training/prep.
1. SG Open tickets about doubled compared to last year. 2. Field depleted because preparation for the Olympics is the top-most priority (no tournaments are above the Olympics) and SG Open does not offer anything other than match practice for some players. 3. Singapore Indoor Stadium is pretty huge; it can look empty pretty easily. 4. Based on experience, weekends are when the crowd shows up. In the past, I used to take leave from work to watch the whole day (at least in the QF, or even R16), and notice that people start trickling in after work. Well, this year, I was one of those late-comers. Last night, only managed to reach the stadium at 8 pm and watched the last 2 hours. No matter what, work (especially if urgent) has to come before badminton, even for die-hard fans.
I am a different one. Badminton has to come before work. I purposely took one day leave on Wednesday to watch the R32 matches and write for Badzine. Unfortunately, my company was having an annual stock take on Thursday and Friday. Or else, I will take three days leaves in a row. Fortunately I still made it at 6.30pm yesterday. Able to witness with long battle of WD match.
There's nothing wrong with having a preference for variety. That's personal taste. But you simply cannot argue that the field in Singapore this year is stronger than CM2011/2010, because that's just not true. MS WR1-5, WS WR1-5 + Baun/Ratchanok/JYJ, 5 of the top 10 MD, 6 of the top 10 WD, 8 of the top 10 XD are absent. The Wikipedia links I posted were to show the pool of competitors. And last time I checked, Wikipedia is pretty reliable with regards to this kind of easily cross-referenceable facts. If you're uncomfortable with it, by all means check tournamentsoftware. I'm sure you'd find the same results.
Annual stock take > Badminton Annual stock take = Work Therefore, Work > Badminton Unfortunately, that's reality for common folks like us.
How many matches went the distance in this QF? Seems like more rather than less. We were treated to some inexplicable momentum swings. DL started off flawlessly against NTM. Then in G2, he wavered between conserving his energy and wasting it in his tactics to drain NTM of his. One thing we know of NTM. He has boundless energy, seemingly refuellable from the air. Hence DL went into G3 losing focus. Wrong tactics. Let s hope DL learns much from a match he could have won. And how did the coach get CWF into a match nervous just against WZM? He s only WZM. CWF gifted WZM G1 with perfect inaccuracy. In G2, he showed what he could do when calm and WZM lost steam but unfortunately couldn't close out. CWF will do better next time from this experience. In the meantime, WZM is looking good. There were some CHN fans showing support with clappers with every point he won. But no 'CHN jia you' vocals. Strange. But the CHN crowd will be out in full force today. Just how important is crowd support? Well, Boonsak got a lucky escape. In G3 final stage, he was running out of gas and giving all, even grunting!( First time in his career from the silent gentleman?) Cheers of 'Boonsak' rang from all the four sides of the stadium. What did the INA fans do for Hayom? Nothing. What about the Sony vs Viktor match? Closing stage when Sony looked like making a comeback, INA fans were rallying behind him. But Viktor had only one lone supporter ( probably a student ). She was good enough to let Viktor know to hold his nerve and win it.
I like the summary above; it goes to demonstrate how important live fan support can be, and how much it means to players. If a player is fighting for his life and if he gets visible and audible support it often sparks a revival that can be the difference between loss and win. Chalk up one more win: for the fans who went to watch the games live! Those who took a day off work without pay, or slunk away from class, or lied to their better half, or anything... but they made the difference to many a competitive spirit!
