Well, here I stick out my neck for all the Gade supporters. Having seen the all England and Thomas Cup matches and watched Peter Gade play in many tough matches, here is why I think it is difficult to beat Lin Dan. (I've already accounted for the stomach ache problem) Peter is fast but diagonal movements are more difficult recently - it must be his knee injury. I hope it can get better but the impression from the matches is that Peter G cannot change the pace as much Lin Dan can. This change of pace is a very powerful weapon for Lin Dan and watching him, I get the feeling he is not even playing 100%! If he needs it, he can go into overdrive mode. Peter has changed his game since his injury. Overall I think it's more tactical in its variation. But the weapon that really made his game in the past (net shot, run back, jump smash, then net kill) seems to be used much less. I just don't get the impression that Peter can raise the game an extra 10% during particular times of the match (unlike Lin Dan). Lin Dan's rhythm is just superb. He doesn't get flustered much. Maybe its too soon to tell but he has that slight swagger of confidence. Very difficult to break Lin Dan's rhythm in a psychological sense. He hasn't shown nervousness. This is what sets him apart from the other players..... Feel free to disagree.
Gades record against leading players Winning record Taufik 5-1 Chen Hong 6-1 Xia 3-2 Rasmussen 7-0 (although after Rasmussen's peak year) Xinpeng 5-2 WC Hann 8-5 Hoyer 4-1 Ong 5-1 Permadi 5-2 Drawing Hendrawan 2-2 D Jiong 2-2 Losing record LIN Dan 1-4 Bao 1-2 Sun Jun 3-5 Roslin Hashim 3-4 Of course in recent years Gade has had injury problems which will have benefitted Dan, Hashim, Bao. I was surprised how good his record is, given that he has had a few lean years with injury. Vs Dan. LinDan is clearly the player on form now, but last year Chen Hong was just as dominant. WHether Dan can maintain this form past the olympics and handle pressure remains to be seen. Lin Dan has great speed and can maintain speed for three sets. While he has good attack and variety he is able to defend and rally when necessary. Like Cheng says his confidence has given him the ability to recover from bad starts. I think Gade is suited to players with an all out attack/smash game, players with a more patient /variable style are perhaps more difficult?
Interesting summary. Sun Jun has the best winning record and is a player that can change the pace of the game. Hendrawan's two wins came about by out speeding Peter
I hope Gade can take another step up before the olympics the current w rankings are 1 Lin, 2 Chen, 3 WC Hann 4 Bao If all followed seedings, best case Gade has Hann in his qtr final, chen in semi and faces a fresh Lin or Bao in the final!
maybe europe players must learn from china's. i see sometimes, they r not only use their *muscle* to play. but also with their brain
Come on..if those leading shuttlers only use muscles than brain,they wont be able to top the IBF rank .All these shuttlers must be able to read their opponents game and weak points. I agree that China is a strong team but does the others.You've probably only seen China so far
well.. he's not really tat old afterall if u compared them to the others players but not china one..if i'm not mistaken kenneth (den)is alreadi 32...Lars passke is also 30 something...so i think his age is probably not a big deal.. maybe he had not fully recovered from his injury. But china players are young..bao n lin dan is really young..
Ya i agree with that. china is really a big country. Those players must work really hard to get to the top right??
Kenneth is actually 30, and lars paaske is only 28, the same as gade. I would say gade should be able to play until next olympics, if he is still good enough.
- I remember once playing against an opponent who often meddles with the shuttle to irritate and distract me.Instead of concentrating my mind was focused on what he had done to the shuttle.(There was no referee). Then on many occasions he would do a service bordering on fault. At times waving his racquet when receiving serve. I think all these are distracting tactics and annoy players with a sense of fair play, I think its ineffective if ignored. I think that itwas only in TCp that Lin was seen smoothing feathers all the while.
Gade needs some stamina.. If he gets about 5% I think he will be able to keep up with Lin Dan because perhaps Lin is faster but Gade is beyond everyone except Taufik when it comes to the technic. If not Lin Dan will win in 2 or 3 sets... Lets see in Athen
You're forgetting something important, Lin is still young and improving rapidly, he shouldn't peak for at least another 3-4 years.
- As mentioned b4 China's coaches , who dont praise easily credits Lin Dan as : Skills of Zhao Jian Hua, brains of Sun Jun (VERY CRAFTY) and mental strength of Xia Xuan Ze, a very difficult player to overcome.Of course if you mention about Lin Dan as skillfull as Zhao it will raise howls of laughter from older audiences. I think on an off-form day the most likely player to beat Lin Dan might be Jonassen or Li Hyun Il.
