Check out the World Juniors underway in S. Africa today. The quickest match of the day was between China & Czech in the girls doubles which only took 6 minutes!!! That's even enough time to warm up! The China team crushes the Czech Rep in 92 minutes for the 5 matches but that wasn't the shortest. The shortest was Germany against Kenya which only took 53 minutes! Today's results at http://www.worldbadminton.net/WJTC_25.htm
Ah, WWC, you just beat me to this new post regarding World Juniors!! There weren't any major surprises except for maybe Sweden beating Hong Kong 3-2. Canada did quite better than I excepted, demolishing Kenya 5-0 in just 66 minutes, with 2 shutouts in the MS and WD, and 2 very-near shutouts in WS and XD. Go Canucks!!! Another surprising thing was there were quite a few 15 and 16 year olds participating in this U-18 tourney!! With the way they are playing, Canada may just finish in the top 10 in this tourney??!! Go China for Gold, Go Canucks for top 10 finish!!!!
i can't help to wonder how many minutes i would last if i were to step into that court. perhaps... 5?
Wow!! Almost into the finals now!! China defeated Malaysia 3-0 to advance to semi-final 1 while Indonesia defeated Chinese Taipei 3-0 to also advance. In the other group, it's Thailand defeating Germany narrowly 3-2 to advance to Group Z semis. The Thais wil likely face against Korea in semi-final 2. So here it is, Semi-Final 1 - China Vs. Indonesia Semi-Final 2 - Thailand Vs. Korea This may just turn out to be a rematch of the 2000 World Juniors!!!
Well, it's set!! China defeated Indonesia 3-1 to advance to Finals and Korea easily cruised over Thailand to Finals. So, another China vs Korea showdown!! My prediction: China wins gold 3-2.
I've noticed from results in Worldbadminton.com that the same people playing in the Chinese team who fared so badly in recent Asian juniors are in World Juniors. The girls are strong but boys are very weak and if the boys are the same ones Korea is going to dominate.
INA girls players The opinion say that Indonesia Ladies/girls player are very weak. In semi final when INA meet China, INA won in mixed double. INA girls lost in WS & WD but They have given very closed match to China girls. Firdasari play in WS & Purwati/Meliana in WD are sent to JWC by Their club not PBSI. PBSI just send 8 player, the others sent by clubs with no standard (because there are 2 players sent just They/their club have money but not good achievement in local tournament). I guess INA still have good Ladies Player, PBSI must trained them more seriously and give more International experience. Give experience to the potensial player not depend to non technical case like Coachs or Team Manager tend to choose player from his club/province.
China beat Korea 3-2 for Gold. They won MS, WS, and WD. Indonesia defeated Thailand 3-1 for 3rd place. Surprising Chinese Taipei was able to get 5th placing!! They may have some potential in the future. Canada didn't get into top 10 like I hoped for but still placed very decently at 12th.
Never imagined the lanky bespectacled Park Sung Hwan could be beaten by 16 year old Chen Jing. Let's see if he lives up to his top billing.
Singapore is doing pretty well in the individual MS event. Both Kendrick Lee and Hendra Widjaya reached the semi finals!
If I remember correctly, the semifinalist fr boys same as recent Asian Juniors except this time Simon Santoso(future Taufik) is out with Chen Jing in. slight change in girls singles, but keep an eye on Yuan Ting, probably the next Zhou Mi.
Yeah, I'm betting Chen Jin is gonna win gold in MS. He just completely OWNED 3/4 seed Hwang Ji Man!! In WS, it was pretty surprising top seed Zhu Lin was knocked out. WD will be both Chinese teams. Malaysia has a good chance in MD with Koh and Tan still in there against Han and Park in finals. The most surprising event is the XD, an event in which China isn't usually strong in. Both top Chinese XD teams cruised into finals with wins over Korea and Indonesia. This gives hope for China's currently mediocre XD. Tomorrow's Finals: MS: ????? (Most likely Chen vs Park) WS: China vs Korea MD: Korea vs Malaysia WD: China vs China XD China vs China
I'm quite surprised really that Kendrick Lee thrashed Park Sung Huan 15-4, 15-4! Well Hendra lost to Chen Jin 15-3, 12-15, 15-6..... too bad. I think Kendrick has a relatively good chance of winning because Chen Jin might be tired. Chen Jin only dropped 23 points in the last 5 games, all in straight sets. But in yesterday's match, he dropped 24 points altogether! We shall see.....
Pity Kendrick lost though. You guys can read and see his face in the Singapore Online Straits Time. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sports/story/0,4386,152731-1036360740,00.html? http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sports/story/0,4386,152870-1036447140,00.html?
I believe his current coach is Mulyo Handoyo. He has many previous coaches including Zhao Jianhua and Wong Shoon Keat.
I have seen Kendrick play before about half a year ago. He doesn't stand out as a player like Taufik or Peter Gade was during that age. In Taufik, you can see the natural flow and beauty, but most shots Kendrick have is by the book (i.e trained and practised till good execution level). However, his smashes are powerful and his drop shots are very sharp (but whose aren't nowadays). He still needs to work on his court coverage and movement though. I am sorry to disappoint, but Kendrick will most probably not reach world class level because he is lacking in very many departments, and his natural talent does not make up for it. I hope he will prove me wrong in the next few years.
I haven't seen this Kendrick fella play and I don't know if he has enough talent to become a great player in the future. But reaching the finals of the WJC is a big enough achievement - for an obscure little country like Singapore that shamelessly imports players from other countries. It's great to know that we did it on our own this time (unless you count the foreign coaches) and I'll drink some Newater to that.
