Why doesn't Lee Yong Dae play Mixed Doubles?

Discussion in 'Korea Professional Players' started by hungryhugo, Nov 23, 2014.

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  1. hungryhugo

    hungryhugo Regular Member

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    Lee Yong Dae won Olympia Gold Medal in Mixed Doubles 2008 but doesn't play Mixed anymore. But his Men's Double Partner Yoo plays very successful Mixed Double (Finalist in China Open 2014).
     
  2. CantSmashThis

    CantSmashThis Regular Member

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    He played Mixed Doubles with Lee So Hee (WR #12 in WD) for the HKG Open. He lost in QFs to Chris & Gabrielle Adcock
     
  3. badrad

    badrad Regular Member

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    If I recall it was only a few years that he stopped playing both MX and MD in tournaments in order to focus on MD mainly. I seem to remember a comment made by GC about how his MD service was a bit uncertain as result of his moving between MD and MX service.
    It has only been in the last few tournaments interesting to see him come back into MX competition, but will take a bit of time for he and his MX partner to get comfortable with the partnership.
     
    #3 badrad, Nov 23, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2014
  4. SolsticeOfLight

    SolsticeOfLight Regular Member

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    He's tried a few partners:

    Choi Hye In
    Shin Seung Chan
    Lee So Hee

    He hasn't been streamed a lot, but the games that are available, he pretty much sucked.
    He lets his partner spend way too much time at the back. Against the English couple, he hardly ever smashed. Won the points when he did, but mostly Lee SoHee was their attacking play. I think she did great at it; being the worker-player in her usual WD partnership obviously helps, but if you're playing a sucky tactic like that, it's no wonder the results are so bad.

    Since the results are so bad, it's no wonder he's not really investing in his XD.

    Edit:// To clarify, I think most of the blame falls on LYD.
     
    #4 SolsticeOfLight, Nov 23, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2014
  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    probably too used to playing with LHJ where she is totally comfortable at the back.
     
  6. SolsticeOfLight

    SolsticeOfLight Regular Member

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    She was, but she was pretty aggressive at going forwards too.
    At the moment he steps so far in that his partners really don't get the opportunity to swap out.

    Also, he's a big boy now. If he needs to adjust his style to play well with different partners, then that's what he has to do.
     
  7. KB@TB Em

    KB@TB Em Regular Member

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    I think he just plays MX to get more stamina (I think i have read that somewhere).
    In the match against Adcocks he didn´t look really interested. And ofc Adcocks are a good, established MX pair.
    I wouldn´t let the serve-argument completly count, as all other Korean MD players play MX regularly. Just look how good Yoo played with Eom. And Ko/Kim played some awesome matches too.
    I wonder how it would go if he would be serious with MX too. Or how he would play with Eom for example.
     
  8. event

    event Regular Member

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    The chronology might be a little unclear here. Lee had an elbow injury and played only 7 tournaments in 2010 with Lee Hyo Jung, then played no mixed at all between the Worlds that year and the Swiss Open in 2011. He played with Ha for about 17 months, until she was suspended from the Olympics, and then took over a year off from mixed.
    As for the comments by Gill Clark, she was talking about the time immediately after he started playing with Shin Seung Chan, after playing only MD for over a year. Ko and Yoo, in contrast, never stopped playing mixed. They only played with different partners. I don't think anyone is arguing that that is an explanation for overall bad performance in mixed.
     
  9. SolsticeOfLight

    SolsticeOfLight Regular Member

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    I agree that he looked disinterested. Which is why I wouldn't let him play with Eom. Since there's finally somebody who's proactive at the net and is willing to take on the men when needed, they should put her with somebody who's interested.
     
  10. kttcn

    kttcn Regular Member

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    i have a different view on this issue.
    To be honest i think Lee SH is not really a very good partner for LYD at least for now.She is not really quick at the net. I was there when they play the German pair in the HKO. She tends to lift a lot to the German pair and her defense is not any where near good. LYD is not a very physically strong player and he can't use he smash to create easy killing shot which Lee is able to manage. I would suggest a partner who is quick in the net for LYD. Kim SY seems like a very good choice and the play very well in the University event. the point is for some reason she is missing for 2 or 3 tournment
     
  11. RedShuttle

    RedShuttle Regular Member

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    If I were the Korean coach, I would keep LYD only to MD in which he has the best chance to succeed.

    For XD, LYD is more ZN than XC. That means that LYD needs a partner who can finish the points aggressively. Even on the Chinese team, there is only one ZYL. On the Korean team, Jung Kyung Eun and Chang Ye Na may be the closest in terms of style but they don't have the front court instinct to be successful in XD.

    So, instead of wasting his energy in XD, LYD should keep to MD only.
     
  12. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    Agreed. If he also plays XD, he needs a female KOR player who would excel both front and back, like ZYL. Sadly, there isn't one currently.

    Better for him to have a sure chance at one gold than an iffy chance at both golds.
     
  13. RedShuttle

    RedShuttle Regular Member

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    I found a partner for LYD to play XD with: Yu XiaoHan.

    Check out her performance at Macau Open, especially the semi-final match, and you would know why.

    Too bad that the likelihood of this partnership is close to zero.
     

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