here is an early prediction poll... this one should be easier to do than others... who do you think will win the women's doubles gold? imho, there are only 4 pairings that are capable of doing so. Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen Huang Sui/Gao Ling Wei Yili/Zhao Tingting Ra Kyung Min / Lee Kyung Won. so who do you think will win it?
Wondering if Ra will even participate in WD or not. Compare to her superior record in XD, Ra's WD record is not anywhere near to be "super", thnx for the mighty CHN army. All 3 pairs beat Ra/Lee in recent tournies. Therefore, maybe Ra should consider concentrate in XD only, due to her stamina and injury.
Ra/Lee 's record against the top three chinese pairs in 2003 : Wei/Zhao 2-2 Gao/Huang 0-1 (2-2 in 2002) Yang/Zhang 2-4 this is enough to hope for a medal imo...
The numbers are true, but count for recently matches, I believe the scale is heavily on CHN side. Ra/Lee seems to be a threat in earlier time, but after WC, they just got beat up almost every single time, by a different pair (even the new Zhang/Zhang?) Look at the titles they got, most are just low ranking ones, the top CHN did not participate (besides Taipei Open, due to ******** issues) Also, say my memory messed me up, the winning chance against CHN WD is less than 35%, but the chance she wins XD is like 75+%. Does KOR really want to waste her energy (possible risk of injury) to let her play both events? Overall, she will be even older in the next 8 months...
HAHA*^^* Ra/Lee beat Zhang/Zhang(Two pairs met once.) This is not important. Ra will retire after Olympics, So I think she wishes to play both XD and WD. But, She has injury. I heard she was sick left knee long ago and cured after Hong Kong open. And the number of games in Olympics is not so much. She will adjust much games according to her energy. Anyway I wish she has good luck.
Ra/Lee never lost against Zhang/Zhang (2-0 record) and they have severely thrashed Wei/Zhao twice this summer, after the WC... I think they have very serious chances of gaining a medal and I agree with jeicegreen that Ra Kyung Min will be wanting to finish her career in the best possible way! (two olympic medals) I think unless she is injured, she will never abandon her ladies doubles medal chances!
Sorry for my confusion about Ra/Lee's recent record again the CHN pairs. Seems CHN pairs dominated the WD title in most of the tournies, therefore, I forgot the fact Ra/Lee might lost, but did not lose to every single pair... heheheheh... Also, I tend to agree with ur guys now. Yeah, maybe Ra/Lee is not the favorite for the Gold, but should be able to get a shot at a medal (if they have better draw to help with). I don't know what I was thinking, maybe Ra's achievement in XD is way too impressive, therefore, I thought "only GOLD is good for her". hehehehheh... Never under-estimate the value of Silver or Bronze, I guess.
