China as impressive as ever...since World Championship to the current concluded China Masters managed to clean sweep all the 5 titles in stake. So now, can they do a hatrick? Eventhough one country monopoly is not healthy for the sport but can we deny the mighty China a total dominance??? MS: Lin Dan and his army of BCL, CL, CJ, DPY.... WS: Wang Xin, WSX, WYH,LL, JYJ, WL... above 2 categories already bring nightmares to their opponents MD: On form CY/FHF is the safe bet but might be the weakest link if Feng Yun fails..ZN/CB and XC/GZD is not ready to win yet... WD: CS/ZYL, WXL/YY, PP/TQ XD: ZN/ZYL, HHB/MJ, XC/YY, TQ/TJM As for WD and XD, China can pair any combinations and they still can form deadly pair to win the titles... So the main question now...can China sweep all and score a hatrick???
well....too bad...but with WC title under his belt...he is good for 2010... Just a matter of time, Chen Long will be the new nightmare for the MS....
Is Wang Lin withdraw too...??? Even without her and CJ, I can't see no reason why they couldn't make clean sweep again....
He has improved a lot but still not "really good". Yesterday, LD made him look good, but even with his (CL) present state, it is a headache for other nation to compete in the future after the old horses retire.
I hope not as it will not do any good to the sport. I wasn't even bothered to watch the China Masters last week. Anyway, I think CJ & WL have withdrawn.
Yes... agree with U... if I'm not mistaken, CL was 2007 junior champion and same year with MAS Arif (correct if I'm wrong)... now CL is a world class player, and where is Arif? still at masak masak level? BOLEH... !!!
Look, CJ and WL went out early due to injury and they still made the clean sweep. So why not again? The only place where they have less than 50% chance is MD - Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng - They were on a roll but can they keep up top-notch performance for 2 consecutive weeks? KKK/TBH, JJS/LYD, MK/HS will be back for revenge (WC Final, CHN Masters SF and WC semi-finals respectively) But we cannot really predict how well KKK/TBH will perform. JJS/LYD also can be shaky for no apparent reason, although they are solid most of the time. MK/HS, many have said that they are no longer up to the top level. MB/CM can be a dark horse in the heavy top half of KKK/TBH and JJS/LYD. Lets take a look at their draw : R32 - Howard Bach/Tony Gunawan - Should be no problem, but a tricky hurdle compared to KKK/TBH and JJS/LYD. Potentially as tricky as MK/HS. R16 - A qualifier, should be Angga/Rian - No problem. QF - Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan - The real test starts here if they are in top form. If not, WC repeat. MK/HS might not even get past Cho/Kwon if they are in terrible form. SF - Guo/Xu, Alvent/Hendra or CB/ZN - None of them are up to their standard. Can be slightly tricky. I only see their QF opponents who have the potential to stop them if they get the ball rolling. Note that they only lost twice this year : JJS/LYD in Korean Open final and MB/CM in AE QF.
Yes.. interesting to know whether china team can make a clean sweep again in this week's japan open.. Though it would be quite tough this time ..
the thread title is a good question! will mighty china be mighty all the way until end of the year? i doubt that as it is not easy to achieve.. injuries among the china players are coming..
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CL is good, his sharp drop shots, smashes and tight net play are his weapon. LD worked so hard to beat him last week, it was a very close game. BCL is actually a weaker player now..
..based on past history (LD, FHF & CY, haven't won back to back SS tourneys since 2007; WX never won back-2-back SS tourneys; the 2 new scratch doubles pairings haven't either), i will simply say no....of course, the other side will say, there's always a first for WX and the 2 scratch doubles pairings.. If the CHN squad managed to clean sweep all the titles, again, esp. with the slightly depleted squad and new scratch pairings, then i'd have to think something is not right with the rest of the world's competition.
I just felt if China dominate the grand prize, badminton won't be popular anymore. Will be same as table-tennis.
