He was playing so far below his standard that at some points it was laughable. I swear, the second game was nothing but him lifting the shuttle for Wei Nan to kill it - there was no real attack from CL whatsoever. Having just seen him in the final last week...the difference really was like night and day. Who is CL likely to meet tomorrow? Du? Oh dear, maybe we should expect some gifting from Chen, but considering that his birthday is this week, maybe it should be the other way around? LOL!
Chen Long is really pushing his luck too far, stubbornly refusing to play his relentless pursuit and attacking game and is content to keep pace with his opponent, allowing Wei Nan to attack him and constantly testing his own retrieving ability. In G3, he was 17-13 up, then suddenly fell behind 17-18, 18-all, 18-19 down,19-all, 20-19 holding matchpoint, deuce 20-all and then each time he was one pt ahead until at 22-all, he decided to inject pace and went on the attack to finish off the final two points for 24-22. Phew. It looked to me that he wouldn't mind if he had lost the deuces and the match. Inexplicable.
tsai chia hsin...improve? i don't think so...he's one of the most experienced players on the taiwan team. surprised he's still playing to be honest
Chen Long's opponent tomorrow is either K Tago or Eric Pang, most likely the former. Chen Long's birthday is this Sat 18th Jan - let's see who will receive a 'present' from him, if not tomorrow's QF, probably Tago, then it could be Sugiarto or Srikanth in the SF. Maybe he is planning to celebrate his birthday on Saturday ?
Suci/Tiara....just unlucky.... I think pelatnas now have 3 good WD Pairs (Greysia/Nitya, Suci/Tiara, Anggia/Della) + Pia/Rizki Hope these 4 WD pairs can improve until May for Uber Cup
That's what I was thinking as well. In addition to the disinclination of taking on LCW on his home turf and the hothouse atmosphere which goes along with that, maybe Chen Long would simply like to have a stress free 25th birthday? After all, there'll be many more Malaysian Opens to contend for, but you only turn 25 once. If it is Tago that he'll meet tomorrow, it will most definitely be a loss for Chen Long. I'll admit my fandom of CL has lessened a bit - I like the athletes I root for to always give their best no matter the circumstances. This...only playing to win when it suits them...that's the loser mentality, in my book.
Surprisingly, Du Pengyu and Chen Yuekun are fighting hard, going the full distance to decide between them who will be offered as sacrificial lamb to Lee Cw tomorrow.
Oh, Chen to win, please! Just imagine with that H2H between them what a pathetic display it'll be tomorrow if it's DPY vs LCW. Chen Yuekun has never met LCW before so at least even if it'll be a sad affair tomorrow, we won't be a 100% sure about it yet.