Kenichi Tago I think he deserves a separate thread now... The way he demolished Mark Zwiebler today in 09 WC is quite remarkable. IMHO, he also showed much improvement since last year. As he is only 20 yrs old now, I believe he should have great future.
http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=517387&postcount=8 http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63623 ?? /Twobeer
^^That's the thread..^^ ..(merge request)??.. Personally, no, i wasn't really surprised by his win over Zwiebler (non-seeded player) in this yr's WC; afterall he fought & defeated Persson (who is a seeded player)...Now, if he can muster a win over Simon and then beats Chen Jin in his next match, then i will be surprised..
My bad! I did search "Tago" and these thread didn't show up... Moderator please merge the threads. Thanks! It's not his win over Zwiebler... It's how he won. Total dominance. Watch the match on www.badmintonfreak.com (all hail showsomemercy!) and you'll know what I mean. vs Simon should be 50-50. If he can topple CJ, then I would also be very very surprised.
Still not a surprise to me.. ..i will watch it later but it's not a surprise..Like i mentioned, Persson is seeded. Zwiebler is not.
Well... many players can beat Persson in a 3-setter, but how many can toy Zwiebler like Tago just did? Anyway, maybe Simon Santoso will prove me wrong today. (I bet he wants to! )
Just saw the video..my 1.25 sens take.. ..okay, just saw the 1st game video (skipped the 2nd one). Personally, i thought neither player showed any brilliant plays. Zwiebler definitely was making more unforced errors in the 1st game. Maybe he was rushing it a bit or wasn't able to play to his tempo. On the other hand, Kenichi was moving so fast, Marc probably didn't know what to do in a few of those rallies. As for Kenichi, I'll give him a star for his very good footwork and court coverage. If not mistaken, i only saw him do 4-5 backhand shots in the entire 1st game. The rest he was able to cover them with his over-the-head shot. Other than his very good footwork, his strokes are your usual variety. Overall, i still wasn't surprised with the result. The next time they play against each other, i'd expect Zwiebler to put on a better performance. - There’s a reason for their seeding numbers, right? - Personally, I rate Persson as higher than Zwiebler. - If Tago can beat Persson in a tough 3-gamer, then it wouldn’t surprise me if he beat/toyed Zwiebler rather “easily”. - Many also were able to toy with Persson and many had a tough 3-gamer vs. Zwiebler; just depends who their opponents were. Btw, we're still waiting for one of the mods or kwun to merge the 2 threads together..
^^Really..^^ ..have i been biased in my (past) reviews or posts??.. Btw, meant to write "Around-the-head" shot not "Over-the-head" shot..
Men it's the 2nd game that's impressive... The only players who "toyed" Persson are LD and LCW, I don't think they need 3 games to beat Zwiebler. Anyway, Simon Santoso is on your side. I am very curious how did Simon manage to beat Tago so easily. Hope there will be video of this match available.
I don't mean to directed at you, I mean when some obvious fans give anlaysis or those fans that try to hide their biases. Just to clarify things
- I will try to watch the 2nd game later...Personally, i won't be overly surprised. - Are you sure LD & LCW are the only players who've "toyed" with Persson?? Of course LD and LCW don't need 3 games to beat Zwiebler. But then, Zwiebler had lost in 2 games to other players before. - I don't really care much abt Simon's result vs. Kenichi. It shows it depends on who is your opponent. So, don't go overly ga-ga-ga with Kenichi's results in the first 2 rounds of the WC. ..you know my views have been 100% unbiased all the time.......okay, maybe 99.999999% of the time..
I guess we have different definitions of "toy" as a verb... To me, to qualify, you need to make your opponent look very very awkward throughout the match/game. In other words, you need to make your opponent look lower than his actual level. Another way of saying it: You need to be able to make unexperienced observers say: "Hey, I can beat that guy too!". An example: ZJH "toyed" Joko in 1990 AE final; (Reason: Joko, a world class player, looked like an amateur) A counterexample: LD didn't "toy" LCW in the 2008 OG final. (Reason: LCW actually looked like a top player, it's just that LD played like superman) As far as I can remember, only LD and LCW have ever made Persson look very awkward throughout a whole match.