MS: Peter Gade WS: Zhang Ning MD: Kim Dong Moon /Ha tae Kwan WD: Gao Ling/Huang Sui MX: Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min
=) I've choosen : MS : Lin dan, Gade or Xia WS : Zhou mi or zhang ning MD : Ex bugiarto/wijaya WD : gao/huang MXs : i don't need to tell you who is it LoL
When they play their best? This to me translates as the people with the absolute most talent (both mentally and physically), toughness, temper, etc don't come into it, ie we aren't talking about the player around player. Therefore: MS: Taufik Hidayat -> absolutely the most freakisk talent out there. Has whole raft of issues, but at his best, unstoppable, closest thing we have to a modern day ZJH. WS: Zhang Ning MD: This is hard, probably KDM and HTK, but Sigit can make anyone else look silly if he's he's playing at his best. WD: Gao Ling / Huang Sui XD: Kim and Ra
Close, it's Zhao Jian Hua, to make it brief, in an era of some of the immortals of the game, Yang Yang, Morten Frost and Ardy, when ZJH said he'd win, he'd win, usually big time. Won probably the most one sided AE final ever, pretty much the only points his opponent got, ZJH gave him to avoid embarassing his friend. Of course he didn't win or compete all that often, and had a whole raft of issues and controversies surrounding him too. Look him up on the search forums.
MS: I'd go for Yang Yang, while the older guys will definitely go for Tang 'The Thing' Xianhu. I like Yang Yang for her fluid strokes and highly skilled play and many of those who grew up in the 80s would agree with me on that. I'd agree with Zhao Jianhua as well, but I prefer a more skill compared to power. MD: Park Joo Bong/Kim Moon Soo - again, the powerhouse, the legends. WS : Susi Susanti, almost same reason as for Yang Yang and she plays really good badminton during her heydays. She was also one of the few players during those times who could rock the juggernaut of China. WD : I can only go as far as a couple of years ago for this one. Gao Ling/Huang Sui. Their lovely smiles during matches with great combination of power and skill to boot sways my vote with great bias. XD : Same with WD as I have only begun to notice this event only of late. Definitely Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min, the legends in the making.
- Dont forget Ge Fei and Gu Jun. They were unbeaten for several years, surpassing Kim and Ra's record. Never took them seriously in their heydays but nowadays I' m trying to watch them all over again. To me it is the standard for perfect teamwork. As for mens Sun Jun is very underrated.One has to watch his progress from 1995to 1999 to see the transformation from a gritty runner to a total all-round player who can play like Zhao or anybody he chooses. I think Lin Dan may just follow in his footsteps.
The best? I only know from the 80's. Can we say this is start of the era of the 'modern game' of badminton? Here, I'm discounting all things such as consistency, number of titles MS: Must be Zhao Jian Hua. Gade supporter. I recommend you try to find the All England Final between Zhao and Joko Suprianto in 1991. (the match Pecheur was referring to). If you want to see magic, that's the one! Even Peter Gade mentioned Zhao was one of his role models. Notice that they prepare for the overhead shot in similarly (racquet face turned outwards) MD: Ricky/Rexy WD: Ge Fei/Gu Jun - just so relentless. WS: Zhang Ning - after her performance at 2003 WC Mxd: Difficult because I didn't take much notice of Thomas Lund's game. So has to go to Kim/Ra
If you take the players who are presently on the circuit, I agree with 4 out of 5. For MS, my vote goes to Taufik...but he is not performing
I started following the circuit late and I probably only go as far back as the Sydney 2000 Olympics. I got hold of a video clip of Joko Suprianto tearing into Dong Jiong rather impressively, so this Zhao Jian Hua must be something really special. Perhaps someone would like to tell me how I could get my hands on some footage of his game at no cost?
Can't agree more than that. At their peak, Ge/Gu simply makes their opponents only fight for the silver, as the gold is already reserved.
I don't mean to advertise for Han Cheong. But I just got the AE91 DVD from him. If you are a Zhao's fan, it's a must-see. I never saw Zhao play so well that he made Joko look like an amateur. If you guys want to see the best, watch this DVD, and you will know Peter Gade, Sun Jun, Chen Hong, Taufik are nowhere near his level. Maybe Lin Dan at his best may give Zhao a closer game.
From the only match i have seen Lin Dan play against Peter Gade recently at AE, Lin Dan is not a finesse player, He is not a crafty and deceptive player. he is a power player , fast , explosive. I did not see any deceptive or nice drop shots from him. I believe crafty players who are fit and do not give him many opportunities to attack and solid defence may stand well against him. Chen Hong also do not really use dropshots. I believe old players like Joko, Zhao , Yang Yang games are more varied and not only reliable on power.