Good for Axelsen to beat Xue...he was leading 19 up in the second game and Xue was many points behind, but Xue somehow levelled it and made it 19 all. For a moment I thought there would be a rubber, but luckily for Axelsen he managed to wrap it up in the end. The finals are shaping up to be more exciting than the past few SS for me...a Tian vs. Axelsen and Wang vs. Marin showdown would be just...ooh!
I'm glad Derek took the second game and forced a decider. From the stats I see Derek must have made numerous errors and ran out of steam in the G3. A creditable effort from Derek overall. I just hope that at least one of our semifinalists can make it to tomorrow's final for a change.
Yes Derek should be around that age or slightly older. His father Wong Shoon Keat, was Singapore's home-grown badminton hero, having defeated the best in SE Asia during his prime to capture the SE Asian Games gold. There were two badminton powerhouses then - Indonesia and Malaysia. WSK, now a coach together with his wife Irene, once lamented that our 2-year National (military) Service for boys aged 18 had held back Derek's badminton development and caused him to issue an ultimatum to Derek that he must make good in the next few years or better do something else. This must have woken up Derek a bit. If I'm not mistaken the legendary Wong Peng Soon, who won many All-England titles and helped Malaya win the Thomas Cup in 1949 when Singapore was part of Malaya, long before Malaysia came into being, was WSK's uncle. BTW Derek and Vanessa Neo are a pair and it is good to see Vanessa surviving to the semis in both the XD and WD. I'm surprised that her new partnership with Fu Mingtian can make it this far. I hope both Derek and Vanessa will encourage each other in their badminton journey.
i think THW should have easy time against ouseph. then he should be able to take the MS finals w/o any issues. if he was playing one of the other danes in the other MS semi, then i think THW's chance of taking it all will be at 50% or less. playing ouseph will provide him an easy game before the finals. i don't see anyone in this tournament can crack his fearless defenses. (if there is a tag team of consecutive danes men's singles players taking him to 3 sets per match, then THW prob won't last 3 rounds) at least at this point in their careers, THW seems to be a stronger prospect (physically and mentally) over SX.
Look like Kristina did something it's not on the paper because she just beat Wang Xin in two straight game. Wow ... London GPG has europian WS 3 player in semi final. I notice WS btw Carolina Marine vs Busanan is true final and on the paper Marine should take this title but my heart choose BO so I hope BO can win today.
Kirsty gilmour may take the title i guess. And I wish Rajiv Ouseph to win the title . Let's see what happens. By the by, who is this Kristina?? She moved to last four. It should be Busanan vs Kirsty gilmour in the final. Victor Axelsen should move to the final .. With his height advantage and he played excellently well yesterday. I watched his recorded match just now.. He should not have any difficulty in overcoming his compatriot. Rajiv ouseph should play his best and need to go for flat game in his semifinal encounter.
Berry Angriawan/Ricky Karanda Suwardi look like more promising than Ulin/Ricky? I hope they can reach their first GPG Final. As for Ulin/Rendy, they reached the INA GPG QF last week and still await for other tourneys.
Carolina Marine is a 3-game expert so that she will have a better chance to reach a final. However, I really hope that Busanan can play on her own form and win this match.
Your prediction is correct Ouseph will meet another former World Jr. Champ. Wang Xin lost straight-sets to Czech Republic's Gavnholt, we'll see Busanan v Marin in last four that could be the real final. Two more steps for Tian Houwei to repeat AUS GPG successful, Ouseph and one of Danish MS, Axelsen or Vittinghus. Will he win it?
Busanan vs Carolina semifinal is as good as the final to me, whoever wins should emerge champion tomorrow, more likely vs Kirsty though Gavnholt beating WX was a feat. Remarkable that 3 out of 4 WS semifinalists are Europeans. Xue Song disappointed me;on the other hand Viktor must be playing well and should have as good a chance as his compatriot HKV to advance to the final. Similarly, 3 of 4 MS semifinalists are Europeans, noteworthy. A pleasant surprise to see from Singapore two pairs of WD and one of XD in the semifinals; however Fu MT/Vanessa Neo will have an uphill task as they are up against the 1st seed and hot favourite, the Danish Christinna/Kamilla. MD title should be Bo/Mo's to lose but as usual the two INA pairs are not to be underestimated. XD title looks to be quite an open affair with all four top seeds in the running ; I'll be rooting for Danny/Vanessa but, if I've to pick the frontrunner, it'll be the GER Michael/Birgit.
As for MS, both Tian Houwei and Xue Song are still relatively young and rough on the edges. The two Danish and one English Men's Singles all have much more international experience despite Viktor being a year or more younger than THW, if I'm not mistaken. THW is I think a more balanced player than XS who has a good attack but weaker defence. Hopefully, THW can take the crown tomorrow should he, expectably, clear today's hurdle over Ouseph. Admittedly, VA or HKV will most certainly give THW a run for their money.
I have tickets for the evening session today. Might not bother turning up. Can't believe how stacked the morning session is compared to the evening. Really disappointed and not fair
Thank you very much for your information, Mr Loh. Interesting to know that Derek is a grand nephew of the legendary WPS. Badminton, like other sports, sometimes do run in the blood of some families. I googled for WPS and inadvertently discovered that he was also an uncle of the famous badminton-playing Oon brothers who are now doctors in Singapore Here is the link to an article you may find interesting. http://www.viweb.freehosting.net/OonCT.htm So Derek was given the ultimatum you mentioned. Poor lad. His parents are badminton coaches and so should know what they are doing. In the case of the doubles-playing “tubby” boy from China I am wondering whether his dad is doing the right thing experimenting with so many different partners for him. IMHO there is no point force-feeding him like a Peking Duck just to be roasted in the oven of badminton critics when he just does not have the talent. Is this a new phenomenon resulting from China’s one-child policy where parents will do anything within their means/powers just to push their child to success? Hopefully not.
I went to the tournament yesterday, I'll upload the videos onto youtube as soon as possible, so everyone can watch