LYB revealed 3 reason for fielding the scratch pairing of Zheng Bo / Yu Yang instead of Zheng Bo / Ma Jin or He Hanbin / Yu Yang: - since ZB/MJ has beaten LYD/LHJ a few times at the beginning of the year, KOR must have spend a lot of time studying them. however, they don't know anything about how ZB/YY will play together. - YY has matured and mentally much more calm since winning Olympics, she can assist ZB with any issues on court - YY/ZB is still a very strong pair, it is paramount to win the first XD match. here is LYD's reaction after the match: - i haven't been bothered with the change of players. i was confident with my form. - esp in the 1st game, i played very well. unfortunately, they played very very well after that.
yes, it's all about batting average. ma jin is still inexperienced and like u say, the ZB/MJ combo have been studied by the KOR. (2 negatives) YY is a proven product, and in the new combo would remove the comfort factor for the KOR. (1.5 plus) I think LYB really wanted that no lost match record under his belt
i was wondering that myself when i heard the match being announced...i thought a suprise tactic was to bring in Yu Yang, who's got much more experience now playing in a big match, as well as having outstanding net coverage...the difference in the match was probably that zheng bo and yu yang could mold together to form a pretty strong pair and have an attack plan against lee yong dae and lee hyo jung, while the latter probably had to read and react and play...
It is not a massive gamble IMO. ZB is better male player & YY is better female player. I would say they have more potential than ZB/MJ or HHB/YY since they together should be stronger. Like people say also YY is more strong and experienced so ZB should respect her. She has more OG Gold than him!! I don't see it continuing though, as HHB/MJ would be weak for a period of time. HHB weakness is coverage, this is ZB strength, and MJ weakness is controlling net and killing off, thus ZB/YY should be perfect combo for CHN.......
One word.. ..sorry, make that 3 words: He Han Bin I also subscribe to othe notion that perhaps LYB wasn't confident with Ma Jin & Zheng Bo, despite their 3 previous/recent victories over LYD & LHJ (more to do with this being a big match). Lee Yong Dae will & should learn from this experience, as IMO, 3rd game was still within his & LHJ's reach.
