back in the mid to late 80s, there were the 4 "heavenly kings" of badminton, Icuk Sugiato, Morten Frost, Yang Yang and Zhao Jinhua. these guys revolves around each other and share majority of the title. other players like Xiong Guobao comes in a take a title or two but never manage to reach the similar status. looking at today, i wonder if we are seeing another 4 king era. Peter Gade, Lin Dan, Taufik Hidayat and Lee Chong Wei. the most contended spot is really LCW's. though showing a lot of promise and maintains the #2 spot, he hasn't really shown much results. the 4 kings of the two era have some simlarities. Taufik is like Zhao Jinhua, nice techniques and ultra-talented, but not always the most motivated. can win the largest tournament but can also falters to lesser players. Lin Dan is kind of like Yang Yang, always maintain high level of play and wins consistently.
Hmm kwun good thought there.... So PGC is like Morten Frost?? Talking aabout the older era, I adore Park Ju Bong and Kim Bong Su...I think they were like FU/Cai..or maybe it was the other way round..
I'm not gonna agree LCW as 'heavenly king'...maybe 'little heavenly king'...and all the Malaysians...please don't bash me! of course LCW is among the best....just what else did he won besides MO and other tournaments without some top players??!! peace!
with possibly a second tier of heavenly princes, i would say BCL, CH, CJ and perhaps KJ fall into this category. and yeah, even though it may sound unpatriotic, LCW has not been consistent enough over the last few tournaments to justify his position there.
little heavenly? in football (soccer), Sport Club Internacional - a football club from south america won the World Club Championships recently in the finals againts spanish giants Barcelona. and the world club championships is a championship where the clubs who won their respective continental titles take part. so does Internacional winning the title justify them as the best football club in the world? i am sure the top english premier league clubs can beat internacional with no problems at all - the likes of arsenal, chelsea, man utd and probably even liverpool. I'm not gonna agree Internacional as 'best club in the world'...maybe 'half best club'...and all the brazilians...please don't bash me! of course internacional is among the best....just what else did internacional win besides the World Club Championships and other tournaments without some top clubs? however, in the football world they are still considered the best club in the world for the 2006 season. anyway, i do respect your opinion on LCW being a 'heavenly king', i'm just expressing my view as well.
Well, how many times Sugiato has beaten Yang Yang and Zhao Jinhua? Not many. Yang Yang and Zhao Jinhua were still the favorite in every tournment they entered just like LD and TH. But Sugiato was still above the rest of the fields just like LCW. It really sounds like a good match for the new 4 heavenly kings. Zhao Jinhua - Taufik - talented but unpredictable. Yang Yang - Lin Dan - always at top form. Morten Frost - PG - a little bit over the hill but still very competitive. Sugiato - LCW - very close to the big 3
Only difference is, Icuk Sugiarto still won a World title in 83. LCW hasn't reached that yet. I think we should put Bao, CH and Kenneth in as well, instead of 4, it becomes 7 kings. Reason is these players are consistent enough to reach at least q-finals for every tournament they played in. And from then onwards, they almost always beat each other, and they typically do not lose to anyone else. CJ is a bit too young, his record is not established yet, maybe another year. And LHI, Hafiz are both either inconsistent or not played in too many tournaments.
Although I somewhat agree to this statement, I still think that if there was a top 4 of those 7 players, it would be Taufik, Lin Dan, LCW and Peter Gade
If you are going to name 3 heavenly kings, few would contend the combination of LD, TH and PG. But if you need to add another heavenly king, it is hard to name a candidate that is more deserved than LCW. Maybe only Chen Hong can contend for this last spot.
i was about to post the same view. I wouldnt slot LCW in the same catergory as LD, TH, PG but just a passing spurt of excellence like XZX. CH is consistently better than LCW. CH has the skill set to beat LD, PG, TH, BCL, KJ. I dunno if CH played LCW before.
so we have 3 tiers apparently: tier 1 ------ LD, TH and PG tier 2 ------ CH and LCW tier 3 ------ BCL, KJ, CY and CJ i just thought i'd throw CY in for some controversy! i would find it hard to see anyone other than these guys winning a tournament that featured them, other than through injury of course.
hmmmm, i didn't put him in the list because i find his game quite inconsistent. he's a bit like hafiz, when he's on form, he can beat anyone, like when he beat LD in Doha. but most of the time i've found his performances to yo-yo a lot. that's just my opinion anyways.
I don't know if KJ really belongs in the same group as Bao, Chen Jin... as the last time KJ won a tournament was way back in 2004... That's a long time ago. I am surprised that Mr. Runner-up doesn't even belong in the "runner-up" tier group, although he did manage to live up to his role very often during 2005,2006 and won the Korean open.
Kenneth Jonassen won the singapore open in 2005 =p Well .. i think we must reduce it to the "3 heavenly kings" .. ( I guess Kwun you also wanted to refer to the HK singer Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau .. etcc ahaha) But here it's quite impossible .. I also want to add Bao Chunlai because, even though he's "Mr Runner Up" .. being finalist is a very good result and he gave good results this year .. but Lin Dan, Taufik Hidayat and Peter Gade have this "Charisma" that put them in a higher step. I guess LD TH and PG became Badminton Legend but Bao Chunlai isn't (in my opinion .. Please don't misunderstood me I really like Bao Chunlai !I love his style but it's just fact .. at least to me lol) About Lee Chong Wei he had a good year in 2005 and the beginning of 2006, he's always a top class player but he didn't keep that consistancy.
Jonassen won Singapore Open in 2004... Taufik won it in 2005. http://www.singaporebadmintonopen.com/en/media/?aid=40117&sec=118&ssec=276&amth=7&ayr=2005
I agree that KJ shouldn't be in. And although Chen Jin is young, he already has the skill. As he grows older, he will definitely be more consistent... So i think he should definitely be in.........