Bao Chunlai ( 鲍春来 )

**takepon** · 06-14-2009, 07:36 AM

i can not watch bcl this year....very sad.
wrong take vacation....sobsobsob........

**Maximum** · 06-14-2009, 07:46 AM

congrats to bcl 4 winning the singapore ss 2009... Its good to see him winning again... hope his knees are okay...

**Zabee** · 06-14-2009, 08:34 AM

kudos to Bao C L...

**Loh** · 06-15-2009, 03:41 AM

At the just concluded Aviva Singapore Open, I have never seen such a motivated and defiant BCL. He has tried many times in past to snatch the SO title but each time he failed.

Not so this year when he even managed to destroy Thailand's in-form Boonsak Ponsana albeit in three games lasting 1 hour 4 min. Boonsak won the title in 2007 and was seeking to regain it this year, until BCL dashed his hopes. This year BCL demonstrated that he was very competitive and vocal as he even challenged the umpire on a disputed base line call and questioned her fault call on an incident at the net. He was judged as having hit the shuttle before it came over to his side.

BCL, now 26 and standing at 6' 3" (1.91m), had his first taste of international titles in 2001 when he won the Denmark Open. That was when he was 18 and it took him another 5 years before he won the Korea Open in 2006 and then the China Open in 2007.

In May last year he helped China win the Thomas Cup against South Korea (3-1) in Jakarta when he beat Lee Hyun Il 28-26, 21-11. But Lee took revenge on BCL at the Beijing Olympics in August when he won 23-21, 21-11 in the quarter finals.

Now BCL is ranked a 'lowly' 16 in the world. But it did not prevent him from defeating three players higher ranked than him in this Singapore Open as the following results show:

R1 - Prsemyslaw Wacha (9) Poland, 21-9, retired
R2 - Wong Choong Hann (23) Malaysia, 21-16, 21-17
QF - Nguyen Tien Minh (11) Vietnam, 21-14, 21-13
SF - Chen Jin (6) China, 21-19, 21-18
F - Boonsak Ponsana (19), 21-19, 16-21, 21-15

Vietnam's NTM's good run when he shocked LCW (1) in R2 had his own hopes destroyed by BCL.

Has BCL finally come of age? Will 2009 be his crowning year? After all this year he has already won the German Open (March) and the ABC (April) in Suwon, Korea. And now the SO. A record of three notable titles in the bag in just one year!

Now, if he is able to capture the WC in Hyderabad, India later in August, the badminton world has no option but to look up to him, especially if he should beat compatriot LD along the way or in the final itself.

**daunt** · 06-15-2009, 03:48 AM

i agree with ur sentiments so nw i tink bcl is gonna give a gd fight in d world championships!

**ctjcad** · 06-15-2009, 03:53 AM

Originally Posted by Loh

...In May last year he helped China win the Thomas Cup against South Korea (3-1) in Jakarta when he beat Lee Hyun Il 28-26, 21-11. But Lee took revenge on BCL at the Beijing Olympics in August when he won 23-21, 21-11 in the quarter finals.
...
Has BCL finally come of age? Will 2009 be his crowning year? After all this year he has already won the German Open (March) and the ABC (April) in Suwon, Korea. And now the SO. A record of three notable titles in the bag in just one year!

Now, if he is able to capture the WC in Hyderabad, India later in August, the badminton world has no option but to look up to him, especially if he should beat compatriot LD along the way or in the final itself.

..will he finally shed his "Mr. Runner-Up" status this yr??...IMO:
- LCW and LD and maybe Chen Jin will be BCL's obstacles to any major titles this yr..Gade and Taufik being his outside spoilers..
- BCL didn't have to face LD or LCW in this yr's S'pore Open. And both LD & LCW didn't attend the earlier German Open and BAC.
- His road to a World Championships MS crown hinges on how far he has to go before meeting either LD or LCW. If he were to meet LD in the Final, my bet is still on LinDan winning it, again, for the 3rd time in a row.
Thus, BCL will probably stay to his status as "Mr. Runner-Up"..

**Loh** · 06-15-2009, 04:11 AM

Originally Posted by ctjcad

..will he finally shed his "Mr. Runner-Up" status this yr??...IMO:
- LCW and LD and maybe Chen Jin will be BCL's obstacles to any major titles this yr..Gade and Taufik being his outside spoilers..
- BCL didn't have to face LD or LCW in this yr's S'pore Open. And both LD & LCW didn't attend the earlier German Open and BAC.
- His road to a World Championships MS crown hinges on how far he has to go before meeting either LD or LCW. If he were to meet LD in the Final, my bet is still on LinDan winning it, again, for the 3rd time in a row.
Thus, BCL will probably stay to his status as "Mr. Runner-Up"..

Well, if he had met LCW at this SO, BCL's chances must be higher as he completely shattered LCW's conqueror, NTM in the QF. He has also beaten CJ here most emphatically.

So compatriot LD is the one who stands in his way. Maybe new coach and World Champ 2003, Xia Xuanze, had other ideas if he is not coaching LD as well. But BCL is on the rise and I will not discount his chances to become World Champ!

BCL jia yu!

**ctjcad** · 06-15-2009, 04:15 AM

..IMO, Nguyen Tien Minh caught LCW on LCW's bad week (considering also, there were so many unexpected upsets in this yr's S'pore Open)..We'll see if NTM can repeat his victory against LCW, the next time they meet..

**Loh** · 06-15-2009, 04:41 AM

Originally Posted by ctjcad

..IMO, Nguyen Tien Minh caught LCW on LCW's bad week..We'll see if NTM can repeat his victory against LCW, the next time they meet..

That's the whole idea - to catch a WR1 napping!

LD might be the next victim!

But LCW has learnt his lesson and will hopefully be better-prepared for the WC.

Can't say much about TH as he was forced to vanish from the SO scene by his sponsor Yonex. The rest of the Indonesian singles players did not make much impact here. But Yonex will display its finest equipment in Hyderabad and Li Ning will only be represented by its China players in the main. BTW the Singapore Team is now sponsored by Li Ning.

As for the ageing PG, who lost to India's Anup Sridhar in R2, his days are numbered. I think his compatriot Jan Jorgensen, who gave CJ a fright during the QF (15-21, 21-17, 21-18 over an hour) has more potential.

And PSH lost to Boonsak in the SF.

So the more you think about it, BCL has more than an outside chance.

**ctjcad** · 06-15-2009, 04:44 AM

..i'll just give BCL that, an "outside chance"..

Btw, i don't know when was the last time BCL won against either LinDan or LCW?? and his head-to-head record against both LD & LCW??..anyone keeping stats knows??..

**weeyeh** · 06-15-2009, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by Loh

At the just concluded Aviva Singapore Open, I have never seen such a motivated and defiant BCL. He has tried many times in past to snatch the SO title but each time he failed.

Not so this year when he even managed to destroy Thailand's in-form Boonsak Ponsana albeit in three games lasting 1 hour 4 min. Boonsak won the title in 2007 and was seeking to regain it this year, until BCL dashed his hopes. This year BCL demonstrated that he was very competitive and vocal as he even challenged the umpire on a disputed base line call and questioned her fault call on an incident at the net. He was judged as having hit the shuttle before it came over to his side.

Agree.. never seen such an offensive BCL. Boonsak simply ran out of steam by 10-6 in the decider.

I think the 1st call was bad (should be in) but it's possible for the 2nd disputed call to have gone out from my angle (BCL's side). It's hard to tell if the 3rd disputed call actually hit Boonsak so I'll give the umpire the benefit. 3 shady line calls and 1 net fault and BCL came back to win it -- really admirable.

I still support Boonsak but BCL is simply an entire level higher.

**weeyeh** · 06-15-2009, 07:21 AM

Originally Posted by Loh

The rest of the Indonesian singles players did not make much impact here.

Sony wasn't doing too badly until he lost his cool. Simon's outing was total disaster by any measure going down to Boonsak like he did.

The Indonesian's weren't the only ones having it bad. Korea and Malaysia did very badly too. At least Indonesia had MD and WD in the finals but to paraphrase Punchclear, MK/HS never came to Singapore.

Back on topic, it's weird how BCL went so far down the list....

**Zabee** · 06-15-2009, 07:36 AM

Bao is slowly getting back as top dog...hope he'll showcase another great show this week....

**at800def** · 06-15-2009, 03:35 PM

he seems more motivated, more motivated and wants it more than ever. He's making things happen as oppose to letting come to him now..( being more aggressive)
Maybe his Knee injury had an effect on him??
But glad to see him winning again and many more to come!

**Jasonvan** · 06-15-2009, 03:45 PM

Good to see Bao win a SS, I think his ranking dropped because he couldn't defend alot of his points due to injury etc... But hopefully he'll shed his mr "runnerup" image

I still think he belongs in the top 5 of men's single player and if given a chance, have a reasonable chance of beating the other top players in the world...