Cai/Fu were demolished by Lin and Tazari. I was there watching...Cai/Fu were not injured, not playing too badly, they were destroyed. Plain and simple. Lin/Tazari, Abdul/Gan were incredible to watch in the AE. Breathtaking in defence/counterattack, and always looking out to attack. Oh yes, they are ligtning fast as well. To top it all off, they don't give up easily and have good mental strength. In the semis, Gan was unfairly penalised for SIX TIMES by the service judge agaist danes number 1 pair in the first set, SIX TIMES!!! Otherwise, Abdul/Gan could have won that tie too and made it an all Malaysian affair. The umpire also disallowed numerous requests to change shuttle and wipe down by the Malaysian pair, and that must have unsettled them...very unfair match tbh If Gan's service was really that bad, why was it only noticed in the semis? There is definitely something there that I dont agree with. Choong/Lee had nothing to offer in the Finals against the danes, the danes were more stable and made less errors. In contrast, Choong/Lee were like school boys. Lin/Tazari basically handed the match to Choong/Lee in the semis, they were not playing to their true form at all (actually more like practising only). Unlike 2004, the danes deserved the win in this Finals. For the future, MAS have about 4 to 5 strong pairs to rely on, but I think Choong/Lee should make way soon. All in all, the young pairs must learn to win under all conditions, be it biased judging, wind draft...anything. Good Job for MAS MD, we will definitely see more of them in the future. MAS MD: 1. CCM/KKK 2. CTF/LWW 3. Lin/Tazari 4. Abdul/Gan 5. Tan/Ong
Oh btw, I am a certified badminton coach in UK, and I did not see anything really wrong with Gan's serves at all.
Penalized 6 times by the service judge !!! What a shame to AE organizer...like wl2171 said, why the service fault was not caught duing semi-finals, or quarter finals ??? Fire the judge !
I did not take any pics, there were officials walking about who did not like people taking pictures. Also, the action was too fast to capture good pictures unless you are a reporter sat beside the court. The Malaysian players are short and stocky. Compared to tall and lengthy players, they would seem to serve "above waist". In reality, Gan's motion while serving is very good, and does not suggest at all that he is cheating and serving above waist. After being faulted 6 times, his serving confidence was shot to bits and he was trying to go as low as possible. This resulted in the MAS pair having only 1 valid server throughout the whole match. Even then, they played well and looked the stronger pair compared to the danes. I am very disappointed at the way that match was conducted. If the organisers felt that having an all Malaysian affair was not good for the finals, shame to them. Either way, I am convinced that if the judging was fair, Abdul/Gan would have won the 1st set and the match subsequently. They were clearly better that night.
6 times! That was too much! Thinking abt it, there was a controversial call too last year when Cai/Fu played against the other danish pair in the final.The chinese were angry at first but then they accepted it. Maybe they knew that it won't change anything by arguing or else they might end up getting a yellow card as well.At last, they won the game. I think the AE judges are famous now for their unfair calls since AE 2004.
To sum it all, this is pure daylight robbery on a badminton court! How could this happen in the most prestigious event in badminton?
so it was faulted for height, and not the "shaft pointing up".... real bummer...woudl have loved to see those two...
All England is actually a very well oganised tournament, punctual, good security, good website/online scoring and nice atmosphere. However, the judging for the MD leaves a lot to be desired. Rigging matches via umpires is not cool by any measure, but this is pure speculation as there can never be any proof for this sort of cases.
May I assume the line judge is Jane something who refereed the controversial 2004 MD final? Hope this will not damage this prestigious tournament.
The malaysians were called against a few times in the finals aswell i noticed same problem racket head to high i think It could be that the whole team was generally a bit lax? howver i was slighty bemused at the time
I was there in the NIA from Thursday watching the whole tournament till Sunday. Never have I seen a player faulted 6 times in 1 set. No matter what, Gan's confidence in serving was pretty much shattered. Also, the point I am trying to make here is that if his service is really that illegal (which I don't think it is), why was it only spotted in the semi-final stage? Why wasn't he cautioned in rounds 1-3 or the quarterfinals? Were the previous 4 service umpires all wrong? Highly unlikely. This is my argument. Jane Hancock was not involved here at all FYI
I am sorry Yannie, that match only lives in my memory . I remember Cai/FU trying to outpace them but failed, they then tried to attack but never really got much chance to unleash their lethal attack. Cai/Fu played the wrong tactics that day, they should have tried slowing the game down but instead they chose to up the speed. Also, I noticed LYB walking away in displeasure in game 2, not a very supportive move in my opinion.