2009 Bay Badminton Championships (One of the largest prize purse tournaments in US)

[magnumcyclonex]

Here are some shots from my cell phone:

[Joseph]

My friend took really good pics and a video. I'll see if he'll let me post them once he has them up.

[magnumcyclonex]

I apologize for the images taking up so much space and distorting the post width.

BTW, KTSF Channel 26 (San Francisco Bay Area local Chinese channel) did a report on the event. Taufik was interviewed and a lot of great shots were taken.

[wanchai97]

Here's a pic of Anna and Lili.

[kwun]

here are the photos from Sunday:

[mettayogi]

I watched WD, MD, and MS final on Sunday afternoon. In reverse chronological order:
1. Taufik Hidayat vs. Hock Lai Lee (Malaysia)
Hock led all the way to 10-8, and entered the break with 11-10 (or 11-8?) lead. Hock challenged Taufik in net exchanges(!) and it was a net win for Hock. Before the break, Taufik didn't smash much , and relied more on clear/drop, drive, net shot combined with feign to score.

I thought maybe I will get to see 3 games from Taufik live for a minute. No such luck. After the break, Taufik sped up the pace, and displayed more 200+ km/hr jump smashes. Taufik quickly took the lead and never trailed again, finishing the 1st game with a backhand smash of a flick serve! I didn't really see how the BH smash happened since it's to my far corner; I blinked and the shuttle was already on the floor :-)

Taufik probably played more seriously in game 2. Hock showed Taufik he can also score with his signature move "net shot - high lift - jump smash" once or twice. Some of Taufik's jump smashes sounded like 250 +- 20 km/hr and Hock had no answer for them. Taufik took the 2nd game w/o sweating much, despite the temperature was hot due to ~600 spectators crowded into court-side w/o A/C.

Taufik feigned more in this match than in videos I watched before, but it could be because feigns are easier to see live. One feign is to pretend net shot then flat lift; what's remarkable is he didn't lose placement precision with feign, and Hock would be a little late to respond. Other feigns from Taufik were also precise, such as:
* pretend straight net shot then cross-court
* pretend drive then net shot on receiving short serve. Hock just froze on this one.

I commend Hock for challenging Taufik at the net with some success, and he managed to net kill 1 or 2 of Taufik's net return.

A little surprising to me is Taufik hit too many tumbling net shots into the net in this match.

2. Tony Gunawan/Howard Bach vs. Chandra Kowi/Daniel Gouw
Both pairs can be described as net man/heavy smasher combo in vogue today. Howard and Daniel were the stocky heavy smasher of the pair, though Howard's touch at the net has markedly improved since I saw him at 2007(?) US Open.

All four reached good height on jump smashes and smashes were quite steep, but Tony's sounded the most impressive. He can spot openings and smash there for straight winners.

High lifts were the return of last resort in this level of MD because it's difficult to defend against continued steep jump smashes. Not even Tony Gunawan.

Tony Gunawan/Howard Bach won in two straight games, as expected.

3. Lily Chow/Eva Lee vs. Joo Hyun Lee/Mona Santoso
I didn't remember any jump smashes. Mona pulled off some fiery shots, but Lily and Eva won.

For both doubles final:
* Low serves were really low above the net, 2 inch max most of the time. The best attack on low serve were net shot and drive. Scoring directly on serve return is rare.

* Tony lost a point while trying to rush a serve, and got flick served instead. Other than that, no points won from flick serve. For receiving serve, men almost toed the service line, while women were 1- 1.5 steps behind. Nobody managed to smash a flick serve, either, probably due to the speed and quality of serve; the return is a clear in all cases.

* Half court push, with possible sudden change of direction, were used heavily to pass the front player, force a lift and smash.

* High speed drives were used heavily as well to gain advantage, or avoid a lift.

* Some excellent net exchanges but I don't remember the details.

For all 3 finals:
* Almost nobody lost balance before their opponents hit the shuttle. Slow to recover to base position after saving a shot is bad enough at this level; the opponent will pounce on the opening to score.

* I saw the quality of classical martial arts portrayed in novels: smooth shot production, unpredictable variations, elegant (almost musical) rhythm of movement, combined with sudden or sustained burst of speed. Taufik and Gunawan won gracefully, without much strain or sweat, partly because opponents were below their level.

[kan2005]

Hi,
Thanks for somebody who upload the two Taufik's matches on youtube. You can search "2009 bbc Taufik". It is in HD quality. Enjoy.

[Fan888]

Good summary, mettayogi. A few random thoughts!

• Does any know whether Hock Lai Lee ever played Taufik Hidayat before? It would have been quite an experience for him too. Like mettayogi said, he played pretty well in the first 1/4 of the match. But then, when TH turned it on, the rest was history.
• Wonder what Kuei Ya Chen was thinking being in the final with TG and against HH/GP. That was after beating HB/EL to get to the final. She appeared to be the youngest of all the final players, but need to smile more and enjoy the moment.
• Lily Chow played so well against Anna Rice, dominating the entire match. And she appeared to be so happy with 2 titles. It was very good to see.

[Qidong]

Hi,
Thanks for somebody who upload the two Taufik's matches on youtube. You can search "2009 bbc Taufik". It is in HD quality. Enjoy.

There are other videos uploaded also by MITBadminton. Thanks MITBadminton for uploading the videos. But wish he/she can use a tripod next time.

[powerdow]

MIT just uploaded one game/match, why not upload the full match? Please upload the full match for finals. Thanks

[king smash]

Here are some shots from my cell phone:

its like a taufik hidayat ? isn't ?