The 1st day at the WC was a good one. Good crowd support for Team USA. I was gonna stay till the end of the night but had the opportunity to go meet one of Team China's coaches so I left early. Chen Hong finished his match early and didn't want to wait for Team China's Bus so Alex (my Coach) and I took Chen Hong back to his hotel. Chen Hong didn't say much and neither did I, I just complemented him on his nice win and he said (in Chinese), "Thanks, I played OK." Afterwards, went to eat with... So, all in all, a good day.
what did you guys talk about during dinner? did he say anything about Nathan/Gail's withdrawl? the English pair are easily the biggest hurdle for China to reclaim the XD WC title...
Yep, from Cheng Du; when we asked him what he wanted to eat he said, "Chuan cai (tsai?)". Sorry, my pin-yin is terrible. Also, my Mother is originally from Sichuan (Chung King) so I guess we're kinda related.
Actually, CHD didn't even know about it. He said he heard about someone being injured but didn't know who. I told him it was Gail Emms, she twisted her ankle and had to withdraw from the Tourney. CHD's response was indifferent. I said in Chinese, "Now Gao Ling and Zhang Jun's chances are even more favorable." Again, CHD was indifferent with a little smirk. I guess CHD was focused on his spicy curry. CHD asked questions about the U.S., the lifestyle, standard of living and how it's different from China. He and Alex reminisced about the old days being on the Chinese National Team and how some things have really changed and how some things haven't. I mostly listened.
Better tell him it was Robertson or else they might think they have a walkover when/if they meet in WD
Maybe lack of significant reaction indicates that the coach realizes that that biggest hurdle wasn't going to matter until Sunday anyway and that the next biggest hurdles - IMHO the Koreans and the Indonesians, both of whom are new pairings who haven't had enough chances to beat Zhang/Gao or Robertson/Emms - are still major and, in the case of Widianto/Natsir, more immediate concerns. In other words I would have expected him neither to rest easy with his pair facing Widianto/Natsir in the semis nor to breathe a sigh of relief at Lee/Lee beating England in the quarter-finals as I believe they would have.
still can't open the page , i think it's my problem , just forget it congratulations to you , you are lucky
chen hong didn't say much? either his wife was waiting for him or he was too busy gawping at the california biuldings