This year's All England is a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT

***cobalt*** · 03-06-2013, 08:10 PM

Just goes to show: you'd better stay on top of your game, or there are a LOT of VERY GOOD CHALLENGERS who will kick you off your (shaky) pedestal.

The front-runners who fell, paid the price of overconfidence; or insufficient preparation; or arrogance; or ill health; or injury. The others just took advantage.

The seeds who got through, did so because they were better prepared and ready for anything.

This AE has suddenly become more exciting than before!

But if you're just looking for same-old same-old, then yes, you're in for a disapppointment!

**Heong** · 03-06-2013, 09:38 PM

I have to say, this year's All England has been very surprising...

All the top seeds, if not most of them, have struggled in the early rounds, most of them uncharacteristically losing to players we would never thought possible...

We would always thought the seeded players would perform well, since All England is a prestigious title, and the players and coaches would take alot of time to prepare. But that's not the case for this year.

Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan, Du Pengyu are expected to sail to the quarter, semi or even finals but were beaten to unseeded players in the first round... Wang Shixian even almost losing to a Spanish player? Hong Wei and Shen Ye lost to Polish players... Chen Long had a tight 3 setter with Boonsak...

Ko Sung Hyun / Lee Yong Dae performing quite badly, they lost to Germans in first round. I have never recalled Lee Yong Dae losing to any European pair besides Boe / Mogensen for least the past 2 years...

Joachim Fischer / Christina Pedersen loses to Kido / Zebadiah...

Lee Chong Wei only narrowly won Wong Wing Ki in 3 set deuce 23-21...

All in all, this could be a good thing for badminton. It shows that its everyones game and gives lower ranks hope to climb up on top and we'll be seeing more competitive games as the tournament progresses. Surprises like these only makes it more interesting to follow!

**Hakular** · 03-06-2013, 09:43 PM

I only care about Wang Yihan.

***cobalt*** · 03-06-2013, 10:05 PM

Then why bother opening up such a thread with such a misleading title?

You could have just vented on her thread....

**98745** · 03-06-2013, 10:29 PM

is this disappointment consistent with post olympic yrs? seems like most players took a good break due to a hectic 2012 and unable to find their mojo yet

**Borbor** · 03-06-2013, 10:33 PM

I dunno what kind of disappointment you're looking for, but I don't think the '09 AE had so much drama in the first round.

**nokh88** · 03-06-2013, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by Heong

Snipped

Lee Chong Wei only narrowly won Wong Wing Ki in 3 set deuce 23-21..

..and Wong had a match point at 21-20. Really a close shave for LCW.

**nokh88** · 03-06-2013, 10:38 PM

No wonder LD stayed away.

**scorpion1** · 03-06-2013, 10:54 PM

Badminton is a game which demands full of speed, accuracy and fine training. If top seeds lost to unseeded players, then people may give thousands of reasons for their failure . But the truth behind this is that the other countries are catching up the badminton superpowers. This is a very very good sign for badminton. If Sayaka and BaeYJ can turn the table for Olympic Gold medallist, why not others??? I always has the strongest belief in many players like Saina Nehwal, Lindaweni Fanetri, Li Han, Sun Yu, Sindhu and others who will do their best if their time comes and prove the world that they are champions one day. All the very best for this All England tournament. I wish to see more surprises today when the cards are thrown on the platform.

**limsy** · 03-07-2013, 02:21 AM

Originally Posted by nokh88

No wonder LD stayed away.

this post is nominated by limsy as post of the tournament!hehe

**vixter** · 03-07-2013, 03:41 AM

China has two wonderful WS players in Xuerui Li and Yihan Wang. But this time they have failed to top their form. Olympic 2012 is already far away. Hopefully these losses will serve as a wake-up call for them. LXR seems to be in a dip form-wise. WYH on the other hand played amazingly well to win the German Open, so it's a little bit strange that she couldn't carry that form into this week. Hopefully they can learn and come back better. After all, retired champions Xie Xingfang and Zhang Ning also suffered 1st round losses at the All England.