MEN'S SINGLES Lin Dan [1] vs Chen Jin [4] -- honestly, depends on Li Yongbo. Which is more important to him....Olympics points to ensure Chen Jin's qualification, or another AE title to Lin Dan's collection. At this point, I think Chen Jin's qualification is more important MEN'S DOUBLES Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man vs Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae [6] -- an All-Korean Final which will please Ha Tae Kwon. A repeat of last week's Final and I think Jung/Lee will be given the honour of winning the All-England title. WOMEN'S SINGLES Tine Rasmussen vs Lu Lan [3] -- a crucial match for China's WS. Will it be 3 out of 3 for Tine? I have a feeling she can deliver! WOMEN'S DOUBLES Du Jing/Yu Yang [3] vs Lee Kyung Won/Lee Hyo Jung [4] -- for the first time for quite some time, we have a non-Chinese WD entering the Final. Could Lee/Lee create history by beating 3 Chinese pairs in a row? I think Du/Yu are still superior to them. MIXED DOUBLES Zheng Bo/Gao Ling [1] vs Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir [2] -- MATCH OF THE DAY. Yes, the big match...hopefully the first match of the Final. Tough to call for this one...expected to be a very tight and close match, probably lasting the distance. Both pairs are not that stable lately....although Zheng/Gao probably have that slight slight edge. However, I hope Nova/Butet can triumph once more!
Chen Jin to win his maiden AE title after the way he played against LCW just now in the SF... Yong Dae-Jae Sung to win the doubles' title due to their better experience... esp LYD....
It would be interesting to see CHN going home with only one title. But I predict CHN will grab at least 2 titles (MS, WD or XD).
MEN'S SINGLES Lin Dan [1] vs Chen Jin [4] -- Agree with madBad. MEN'S DOUBLES Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man vs Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae [6] -- [50-50] Seriously?? Again?? The KOR pairs are incredibly lucky. They've completely benefited from the upsets of their main competition in the forms of CY/FHF, KKK/TBH, MK/HS, TG/CW who are the only pairs who are capable of beating them handily. I'd say Jung/Lee will 'lose' or win depending on how KOR values seedings in the OG. WOMEN'S SINGLES Tine Rasmussen vs Lu Lan [3] -- [70-30] I'd like to pick Lu Lan but Tine just seems too hot to handle for the little Chinese women. Her power and range really push them all over the place and make it hard for them to produce winners. There's a small chance that LL could do it given her fighting spirit and sheer determination alone. WOMEN'S DOUBLES Du Jing/Yu Yang [3] vs Lee Kyung Won/Lee Hyo Jung [4] -- [60-40] After the Lee's killed YW/ZJW's hopes of finally getting the AE title, one could argue they are in high form to nab the title themselves. But the younger CHN pairs often deal with the Lee's a lot better than YW/ZJW who have more and more been dragged into grueling 3 setters recently. I'd say unless KOR pulls off some amazing defense, they'll have no way of stopping the tomboys. This definitely marks a changing of the guards and style of WD. LKW/LHJ & YW/ZJW are the last of the older generation's less aggressive style. MIXED DOUBLES Zheng Bo/Gao Ling [1] vs Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir [2] -- [55-45] Definitely match of the day and it all depends on who wakes up on the right side of the bed. Last year the IO saw the INA pair at a loss of doing anything right while the HKO saw ZB/GL make a ridiculous amount of errors. Whoever plays cleaner will definitely take this match as they are on very even levels.
Just in this AE 08 I'm very interesting to watch WS, WD, and especially XD final. I used to watch MS & MD. I pick Tine, Lee/Lee, Nova/Butet, Lin Dan, Jung/Lee. Ok, that's not prediction, just they are being my fave for tomorrow final.
My prediction MS: LD - CJ: 50-50. (If no match-fixing, LD - CJ 99-1. ) MD: JJS/LYD - LJJ/HJM: 60 - 40. WD: DJ/YY - LKW/LHJ: 51 - 49. WS: I have no idea. XD: Nova/Butet - Zheng/Gao: 51 - 49. This differs from everyone else so I would like to explain a bit. I was surprised by Nova/Butet's performance today, they seem confident and fit. They have slight advantage when playing against Zheng/Gao since last year's WC, even in the Japan open final it's them who dominated the game before Nova ran out of gas. On the other hand, if Zheng/Gao's first game against Xie/Zhang indicates anything, it's that they are not in top form.
i reckon he still needs to do well in the swiss, he won it last year and so could lose most of the 9200 points he got there if he crashes out early. but certainly winning tomorrow will not hurt his cause.
i think CJ is pretty safe though, TH, KJ and SDK lost in the QF, LHI lost in R1 and PG is out injured so he has picked up a lot more points than his closest rivals this time.
But don't forget TH literally has no points from last year's AE and Swiss (I don't know about Sony). So any points he get, he may get them all. While CJ reached SF in last year's AE and won last year's Swiss. Just checked, TH is behind CJ by about 4000 pts. But an AE 5-8 gives him 5040 pts, if he does not need to deduct much ( I doubt he need), the gap may become smaller after AE I guess?
I really don't think CJ getting enough points for OG is an Issue. I also disagree with KOR MD pairs being lucky to be in the final. LJJ/HJM beat TG/CW hands down, with no element of luck & LYD/JJS have beaten CTF/LWW and a good DEN pair. Over the past few years their defences and attacks have improved tremendously. There defences are now one of the best. Their attacks are still not quite strong enough and this is their weakness.
Calling the Korean MD lucky is a little bit unfair, I do believe they have the skills to take out any of the top pairs, and I think LYD especially is improving so much. Just like we wouldn't call Tine is lucky just because ZN and XXF was taken out at first round. As for my prediction: LD Tine LYD/JJS ZB/GL LKW/LHJ (Crossing my fingers on this one )
Yup, in the sport, there's no lucky unlucky, but that's the way to be champion! Bravo KOR! LYD deserves to win. I think he can be a model and an actor like RAIN if not playing bdmtn anymore.
I dunno, I just think that based off their results at the start of the season the KOR pairs still aren't at the same level as the top 4. I seem to be in the wrong but just my .02. I don't doubt that they're good/have improved a lot and that they're champions, but I do question if they would be here had the top 3 seeds not been shocked out. Obviously in the end the results are what speaks the loudest and they got them so yeah.
CJ position is not safe at all...He needs to win AE as well as Swiss in order to maintain no.4 position...as TH did not participate and TH can earnmore points if he decides to go to India or ABC championship.....
Of course whether TH would prefer a Top4 position is questionable. On the other hand, Sony definitely would dream to occupy No. 4 position.
Chen Jin NEEDS TO DEFEND 15620 Points earned last year. His victory today earns him 9200 pts, which means he has to enter at least the Semi-Final again to make sure he still stays in his 4th spot. If Lin Dan were to win today, then all the more that Chen Jin needs to go at least to the Final again next week.