Attached an article from The Star today: Chinese ace Lin Dan pulls out of Thailand Open By RAJES PAUL PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's world number one men’s singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei's hope of exacting revenge against China's Lin Dan in the Thailand Open was dashed when the Chinese pulled out of the championships. Tomorrow, Chong Wei begins his campaign in the US$80,000 Thailand Open badminton championships after crashing out at the last hurdle in the Macau Open, which ended on Sunday. Chong Wei lost to Lin Dan, the world No. 2, 18-21, 21-18, 18-21 in a closely contested men's singles final. It was their third consecutive final showdown within a month. In June, Chong Wei beat Lin Dan to win the Malaysia Open in Kuching. A week later Lin Dan triumphed at the Taiwan Open. To date, both have played each other seven times. Besides the last three consecutive final encounters this year, Chong Wei had beaten Lin Dan in last year's Malaysian Open but suffered defeats at the 2004 Thomas Cup Finals qualifying round, 2005 Hong Kong Open and 2006 All-England. Chong Wei is aiming to do well in the Thailand Open to put himself in good stead for the World Championships, scheduled to be held in Madrid from Sept 18-24. On his narrow loss to Lin Dan last Sunday, Chong Wei said: “I used to get beaten by Lin Dan easily. Now, I am able to make him sweat for points. I may not be on par with him yet but I am catching up. “I can only promise to give another good showing if I do meet him again.” With Lin Dan out, Chong Wei's main challenger will be world No.3 Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark. The Dane is drawn in the bottom half and his toughest opponents are Chen Jin of China and Malaysia's Hafiz Hashim. Chong Wei is in the top half of the draw and meets China's dangerous upcoming start Chen Yu in the second round. The Chinese has a reputation of hitting top form when up against a higher ranked player. If Chong Wei clears this hurdle, he is expected to take on South Korean Lee Hyun-il in the quarter-finals. And if Chong Wei gets through, his semi-final opponent could be China's Chen Hong or Bao Chunlai.
TOUCHWOOD!!! cooler, saying stuff like this is taboo / bad luck in some places / culture. It like an unintentional curse. The Borneon BaddyNut P.S. : No I'm not a headhunter
Maybe LD knows he will meet LCW again in final... So to avoid that he skip it to make LCW more fustrated... its all mind game!! Or another theory is.. he isn't worried about LCW at all and has nothing against him.. and probably only looking forward to beat Taufik in major event
I think Lin Dan is very smart, strategy-wise. Resting in between tournaments is often overlooked as a good strategy. Skipping a lowly 3-star tournament makes a lot of sense. Strategy-wise it makes sense to be at your peak at the right time and for the right tournaments. Playing in as many tournament as there are weeks in a year is poor strategy-how in the world can you be at your peak all the time?
Malaysians are launching an attack on the Thai Open with a team of all their top players. It seems like they want to win this one to build confidence for the World Championship. Good move I reckon !
About sending players to neighbouring countries tournaments ---------------------------------------------------------- It's not only good economics & sports development to send a large contingent consisting a mix of the best and up and coming players to tournaments at our neighbouring countries,...... it's also good display of support to better international ties and relationships. strangely, it was funny that not so many of them supported our Malaysian Open. The Borneon BaddyNut
Ha...ha...Lee Chong Wei will attend the Thailand Open again..He is really a superman hor...Won't be tired one.....I think maybe LD just want to have some rest...Hope LCW can win...
Devil's Advocat and Indra...u can brush off PG or CJ just like that..they are serious contender too esp PG who shud be very fresh
Could be because the Malaysian Open attracted bigger names, so many Thais can find it hard to even be in the qualifying list.
well last time PG and LCW met gade won. Furthermore Chen yu beated LCW in indonesia open so to claim he easily will win is an unserious statement. I too believe LCW is a favourite but actually I see a lot of contenders for the title now that LD are gone, specially PG and Chen Jin
my motto is: if he/she doesn't believe it, it doesn't affect them i touch teflon and bad things bounce off me
