Tang Xianhu - The Thing (Is He The Greatest Ever?)

[badMania]

One piece of info I just gathered....Tang Lao Shi's role has now been switched from WS to MS, specifically to coach Lin Dan to win the Olympics gold medal next year I think there is a slim hope that other players could win it now.

[Krisna]

One piece of info I just gathered....Tang Lao Shi's role has now been switched from WS to MS, specifically to coach Lin Dan to win the Olympics gold medal next year I think there is a slim hope that other players could win it now.

Sounds to me: China is getting extremely confident that their WS will win the Olympic Gold eh? Fine! I hope Xu Huawen [Germany] or Pi Hongyan [France] can deliver one gold for Europe in badminton... THAT will jumpstart more European interest in badminton...

[chris-ccc]

One piece of info I just gathered....Tang Lao Shi's role has now been switched from WS to MS, specifically to coach Lin Dan to win the Olympics gold medal next year I think there is a slim hope that other players could win it now.

At the Beijing Olympics 2008, I won't be surprised if Lin Dan and Taufik Hidayat (2 of Tang Xianhu's trainees) would be fighting each other at the Final, for the Mens Singles Gold Medal.

[Oldhand]

At the Beijing Olympics 2008, I won't be surprised if Lin Dan and Taufik Hidayat (2 of Tang Xianhu's trainees) would be fighting each other at the Final, for the Mens Singles Gold Medal.

That sounds ominously like the 2000 Sydney Olympics when two of 'The Thing's' trainees (Hendrawan and Ji Xinpeng) battled it out for gold.

I wonder if such a similar title clash between Taufik and Lin Dan will make Tang Xianhu sad or proud.

I also wonder what he felt when they clashed at the Doha Asian Games. Maybe he was happy that they squared off, with each winning an encounter.

[stumblingfeet]

My coach was telling me about this guy. Back in the 60s, they went on a tour together in China. It was from him that he learned how to "whip" the shuttle, and also that Tang would frequently jump into the air to whip the shot down.

Apparently, back then they would shave off much of the wooden frame of the racquet to reduce weight to allow this technique to be used.

[Cheung]

I
These posts are great reading for those who want to know more:

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/foru...ad.php?t=12509
see post #1 and post #10 - Tang Xianhu with a certain Cheung and a certain Kwun (perhaps, the high-points of cheung's and kwun's careers and the low-points of Tang's career ).
Some guys have all the luck

I still remember having that photo taken. Pity I didn't have a better shot taken. I remember people around me wondering why I wanted to have my photo taken with a an old guy with a baseball cap.

[Cheung]

One piece of info I just gathered....Tang Lao Shi's role has now been switched from WS to MS, specifically to coach Lin Dan to win the Olympics gold medal next year I think there is a slim hope that other players could win it now.

I thought he had retired? So he is still coaching the China team? I guess he just does not travel then.

[ctjcad]

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/foru...ad.php?t=12509
see post #1 and post #10 - Tang Xianhu with a certain Cheung and a certain Kwun (perhaps, the high-points of cheung's and kwun's careers and the low-points of Tang's career ).
Some guys have all the luck

I still remember having that photo taken. Pity I didn't have a better shot taken. I remember people around me wondering why I wanted to have my photo taken with a an old guy with a baseball cap.

..both you & kwun are fortunate to have, at least, taken a pic & shaked hands with a legend like Tang Xianhu...and Cheung & kwun, got a quick glimpse of your "youthful" appearances...

[badMania]

Sounds to me: China is getting extremely confident that their WS will win the Olympic Gold eh? Fine! I hope Xu Huawen [Germany] or Pi Hongyan [France] can deliver one gold for Europe in badminton... THAT will jumpstart more European interest in badminton...

Ji Xinpeng (MS Olympics 2000 Gold Medallist) have also been thrown in to help the MS.

They have put Xia Xuanze as coach to help the WS team. But, no doubt, almost everyone can beat the top 3 Chinese WS players now.

Zhang Ning -- beaten by Wang Chen in WC 2007
Xie Xingfang -- beaten by Wong Mew Choo in WC 2007
Zhu Lin -- regularly beaten by Wang Chen and now Yip Pui Yin in JO 2007

So, things look quite shaky for them indeed.

Here's the news article from Sina.com.cn which reveals the change in the coaching setup in the China Badminton Team.

国羽教练组大调整 张军进女双刘永督军男双混双 -- Restructuring in the Chinese National Team Coaching Team, Zhang Jun to coach WD while Liu Yong to help in MD and XD

今天，夏煊泽、吉新鹏、张军和刘永四人正式进入国家队教练组。这是中国羽毛球队自世锦赛归来后，对教练班子 做的一个大调整。
　　本次入选国家队教练班子的四名年轻教练员都有奥运会的参赛经历，其中奥运冠军吉新鹏进入男单组，夏煊泽进入女单组，张军进入女双组，刘永进入男双和混双组。国家队总教练李永波表示，这次与其说是调整教练班子，不如说是充实，主要目的是要加强教练力量，更好地备 战奥运。尤其是四名年轻教练都拥有很好的技术和经验，都有奥运会参赛经历，能对队员起到潜移默 化的作用。
　　对新岗位，几名新教练都显得踌躇满志。曾经担任国少女队和国青队教练的夏煊泽，坦言重回国家体育总局训 练局的羽毛球馆就不能自拔地兴奋起来。而原本担任国家二队教练的吉新鹏则认为自己已经准备好了：“毕竟我是 过来人，我可以把经验传递给队员。从运动员直接退下来当教练，也更容易和队员沟通。”
　　除注入“新鲜血液”外，国家队原教练组也进行了调整，老教练汤仙虎将作为专家组成员重点协调男单组的工作， 主要侧重于林丹的训练。女单组的变动也相对较大，女单组项目负责人仍是原主教练唐学华，但执行教练由原男单 组教练李志锋担任，同时配以男单世界冠军出身的夏煊泽做助手，重点解决女单目前存在的问题，尤其要帮助张宁 和谢杏芳两位老队员保持体能，调整好心态迎接奥运。

Besides including some new bloods, the main coaching structure within the National Team will also undergo some changes. Old coach, Tang Xianhu will specially be in charge of a team of experts to help the coaching job in MS, with the emphasis being put on Lin Dan's training. The WS coaching structure will also undergo quite a huge change. The chief coach in charge will still be Tang Xuehua, but, the one in charge of training will be Lin Zhifeng (originally in charge of MS). At the same time, he will be helped by the former World Champion Xia Xuanze, with emphasis being to solve the current problem plaguing the WS, especially to help senior players like Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang in terms of their fitness, to prepare them well for the Beijing Olympics 2008.

[Oldhand]

I remember people around me wondering why I wanted to have my photo taken with a an old guy with a baseball cap.

In that picture, the 'old guy' was not the only one wearing a cap
If I remember right, the 'young guy' too was wearing one
The people around you must have thought it's a cappy groupie thing

[viver]

At the Beijing Olympics 2008, I won't be surprised if Lin Dan and Taufik Hidayat (2 of Tang Xianhu's trainees) would be fighting each other at the Final, for the Mens Singles Gold Medal.

You sure that Taufik trained under Tang Xianhu?

[viver]

My coach was telling me about this guy. Back in the 60s, they went on a tour together in China. It was from him that he learned how to "whip" the shuttle, and also that Tang would frequently jump into the air to whip the shot down.

Apparently, back then they would shave off much of the wooden frame of the racquet to reduce weight to allow this technique to be used.

To my knowledge, Tang Xianfu liked heavier racquets, specially head-heavy ones. Have not heard about shaving the racquet to reduce weight and also believe that was not needed: he had racquets made for him according to his preference.

[Krisna]

At the Beijing Olympics 2008, I won't be surprised if Lin Dan and Taufik Hidayat (2 of Tang Xianhu's trainees) would be fighting each other at the Final, for the Mens Singles Gold Medal.

You sure that Taufik trained under Tang Xianhu?

I just checked with former INA National Team players. Taufik Hidayat was never coached by Coach Tang... Taufik was coached by one of the few players who beat Tang Xianhu: Iie Sumirat! Taufik was Iie's child prodigy [since TH was 9 or something]... we can see Iie's unorthodox-ness in Taufik... [as well as some of Iie's off-court bad habits]... I mean no disrespect to Iie. He is a cool guy... he is just an imperfect human like the rest of us...

So, in the past, Iie defeated Tang... Now it is time for Iie's student [Taufik] to play Tang's student [Lin]...

[ctjcad]

So, in the past, Iie defeated Tang... Now it is time for Iie's student [Taufik] to play Tang's student [Lin]...

...Taufik-Iie (Taufik Hidayat's chinese name?) vs. Lin-Tang (LinDan)...?!?!..

[badMania]

...Taufik-Iie (Taufik Hidayat's chinese name?) vs. Lin-Tang (LinDan)...?!?!..

In Chinese, Taufik's name is simply translated as Tau Fei Ke.

[Oldhand]

So, in the past, Iie defeated Tang...

In fact, my original post mentions the Thing's defeat at Sumirat's hands.

I just checked with former INA National Team players. Taufik Hidayat was never coached by Coach Tang...

There's no dispute that Sumirat coached Taufik at a young age. However, on the question of Tang Xianhu coaching Taufik, did you speak with Hendrawan or Icuk?

Taufik's first crown in the Grand Prix circuit was the Brunei Open, at the age of 16 or 17. (Like in today's match at the Japan Open, it was Chen Hong that he beat in the first round!) This was in July 1998 when Tang Xianhu was still coaching Indonesia (he left for China later in the year). It follows that he must have guided the young Taufik as well.

Earlier, in 1997, Taufik was also the Asian men's singles junior champion. Again, this could not have been without Tang Xianhu's supervision.

The best person to answer this question would be Taufik himself.
Maybe kwun or cheung could ask The Thing

[ctjcad]

Taufik's first crown in the Grand Prix circuit was the Brunei Open, at the age of 16 or 17. (Like in today's match at the Japan Open, it was Chen Hong that he beat in the first round!) This was in July 1998 when Tang Xianhu was still coaching Indonesia (he left for China later in the year). It follows that he must have guided the young Taufik as well.

Earlier, in 1997, Taufik was also the Asian men's singles junior champion. Again, this could not have been without Tang Xianhu's supervision.

The best person to answer this question would be Taufik himself.
Maybe kwun or cheung could ask The Thing

..during those yrs, perhaps Taufik, himself, will not reveal the truth..hmm..I'm sure The Thing also coached/taught other players, but then, not every player The Thing coached/taught can turn out to be like Taufik. Perhaps, The Thing influenced Taufik the most..But as the facts have shown, Taufik is just something else....a different genius, on his own, just like The Thing was..