I have a pact with Chong Wei to stop China, says Taufik from star online: http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2011/11/17/seagames/9917973&sec= JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat has made a pact with Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and Denmark’s Peter-Gade Christensen to prevent China from having a maximum number of qualifiers in the London Olympic Games next year. All they have to do now is dominate the top four positions in the world rankings. Taufik figures this is the only way to prevent China from manipulating the rankings so that they can have the maximum three shuttlers in the men’s singles at the Olympics. Over the last few months, China have conceded several walkovers in tournaments, mostly by Lin Dan, Chen Long and Chen Jin, citing injuries. These walkovers have allowed Chen Long to move into second spot in the rankings, followed by Lin Dan at No. 3 and Chen Jin at No. 5. Chong Wei remains the world No. 1. A country can have a maximum three qualifiers per event in the Olym*pics if all of them are in the top four of the world rankings and China look capable of pulling it off. Taufik, although unhappy with the way things have been going, be**lieves he has a fool-proof game plan. “The world body (Badminton World Federation) made this ruling so I don’t blame the countries who manipulate it. But it does not do justice to the sport if one has to find loopholes like this rather than just play good badminton to win the right to compete,” he said. “I met up with Chong Wei and Peter at the launching of the Li Yongbo Badminton School recently. We can thwart China’s plan if all of us can stay in the top four,” said Taufik. “China are well ahead of us in terms of planning and strategising their moves in the game. “They even know how to promote the sport. They offered one million renminbi (RM500,000) as prize money for an exhibition match. That’s how much they value badminton. “Hopefully, one day I can help Indonesia manage the sport just as well and build strong characters to bring more vibrancy to our game.” For now, though, Taufik knows he has a lot to do to keep his part of the bargain as Chong Wei is world No. 1 and Christensen No. 4.. Taufik’s form has taken a sharp dip in the last seven months and he has dropped from second to eighth spot in the rankings. In the SEA Games, he played only once in the team event, losing to Thailand’s Tangonsak Saensom*boonsuk in the semi-finals. He will take on Malaysia’s Liew Daren in the quarter-finals of the individual event at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno today. “This pact may just give me the motivation and excitement to turn my game around,” said Taufik, who has won all the major titles in the world, except for the All-England.
if this turns out well, that means we will see a revived TH. which is a good thing. beyond that what else can they do? LCW already maxed out on his ability, PG even going beyond what he old legs can handle already. i hope it won't meant that LCW/TH/PG will start their own match fixing pack. that will be terrible.
Anyone see the irony of them coming up with this pact during the 4 Kings exhibition, at Li Yongbo's badminton school inauguration no less?
And dang kwun, I thought *you* had a pact with LCW... at least that's how it appeared on the forum new posts listing.
Ha ha.. And BWF has made a pact with Taufik, Gade and Lee Chong Wei as well to award 6000 or more important ranking points to Gade for free in SSF without even giving Chen Jin, the third chineese shuttler a chance to compete for those points.. So who is really rigging the system here??
But what I'm wondering is even if they'd made a pact, what did they hope to achieve by announcing it to the world? To warn China that they're aware of their master plan? I'm not really sure if even TH can do anything, given the way he's played in the past yr.
So what can Taufik do?? This week if he is motivated he can maybe beat Gade in the quarter..but how will that help Gade? He can of course course "throw" or WO the game to his friend Gade, but that hardly increases his own chanses fo gettin to top 4 I think BWF helps Gade more than taufik ever can do.. Perhaps he is aiming to do well in SSF?? But this is not really their pact.. it is just BWFs freebies to the non chineese contenders.
i think realistically they can only squeeze CJ out of the top 4. neither PG nor TH has the ability to squeeze CL/LD out. and only one LCW isn't enough quantity to do that. yes. very ironic that they were invited and paid to play in the LYB academy and their outcome is to gang up against the Chinese team. i wonder what color LYB's face would be when he finds out?
How to stop Chinese from getting three? PG has to just reach the SF consistently and hope that CJ meets LCW in the QF. But if CJ meets CL or LD, there is a chance that he gets a free pass... Chances not exactly bright for PG... but he has the SSMF to make up for it... LCW just has to try his best to beat CJ every time they meet..
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seriously i doubt this will come true with the exception of LCW, both Taufik Hidayat and Peter Gade are 30 or above, age is not on their side. beside that form of Taufik Hidayat has been disappointing. Look at the 3 chinese player playing form. your brain tells you the answer even thought your heart hope for otherwise
If TH is the mastermind of this, he has the responsibility of contributing something for the plan to be realized & finally succeed. As kwun said, we might see a whole new mature TH, which is good for badminton fan out there. However, if TH continues his performance down the road, i might say that this plan might be too good to be true.
Always playing to win . What they wished/wanted is not what they get. Still they have hope. There is more time to carry out their plan. IMHO, their plan is not an appropriate one. Always playing to win should be more appropriate. In other words: Always playing to win; No match-fixing please. .
Agree with chris IMHO, if they think that CBA has the match fixed, and they just counter CBA by doing the same thing, it indirectly indicates that they have agreed with CBA strategy and accept it as it is the current game plan & trend for today's badminton. IMO, they all should strive for the best, train hard & play hard. Let us, badminton fans have exciting matches to watch.
Cliff Notes version of the original article: Going forward, TH and PG will give LCW a walkover if they meet in a tourney. ...
Just a couple of observations. 1. Nowhere in the "interview" has Taufik specifically stated that the pact includes match-fixing between him, PG and LCW. He has in fact been attributed with the quote that it does not do justice to the sport. His pact could well be a promise that each would to their absolute best to keep China down to 2 entries. Taufik is usually known for very plain speaking... and yet, there is no clear quote attributed to him that indicates a pact for manipulation or fixing. Not only that, none of the other two players have been asked or interviewed since, and neither of them have come forward to corroborate the "finer points" of Taufik's alleged pact which would be "inferred." 2. The only real paper reporting this is the Star. I did not find a single Indonesian paper reporting this. No syndicate picked it up either. There is no indication that Taufik spoke at all with any paper from his own country. And yet, he revealed his pact to a Malaysian paper. All other papers and online media picked it up from there. More interestingly, the Star's report is datelined Jakarta. If my observations bear out, then it appears to be just another case of slick reporting for sensational headlining. Moreover, the report does not carry the byline of any of the respected reporters of the Star. Of course, I could be wrong.
It's like an average player saying he will win the Olympic gold in London. But is he capable? Honestly CJ is the 4th best MS player in the world. PG can't beat him at this stage. He deserves to go to London. Instead of LYB thinking about all the game fixing thing, he should find a way to help CJ go back to top of his form.