Yang2 got beaten and china open gate? This is only pure coincidence but it's still no wrong to say that. It's just confusing reader only actually I had a hard time trying to figure out their relation..
It is just coincidence that both events occurred in the same year. From memory, I think it is Mahathir embracing China that opened the path for malaysians to visit CHN, it it is economic decision to access the CHN market. Also, CHN is longer MAO's china and fear of communism, it is communist in name but capitalist in governance, and no turning back as I see it. Now, back to YY and LD....you played YY and beat the crap out of him (I think you said that in your post, correct me if I am wrong) so who is better?
Ya, I played yang2 before but to beat the crab out of him I need your extra legs, OTB ... on conditions they run like usain bolt yang2 has a lot of back court deceptions and fast rallies. He smashes a lot and flips back court real fast which he kept continuing so in the end I drop dead Playing with him was lucky I didn't get much wrong footed and I blamed those Bata shoes while he was using dragon fly brand hahaha. To cut story short, for him he was running at a pace of say, 5mph while I was sprinting my 15s 100m dash .... all the way ..puff puff .
Very interesting thread to read, really enjoy it, you guys are fun. For me,if I compare all three,namely Lin Dan,Zhao Jianhua and Yang Yang, at their best, I would rate them in the order I mentioned. But actually it's fairer and more realistic to compare ZJH ang YY with each other as they belong to the same era than to compare either one with Lin Dan of a different era. Personally,I first took up badminton as a boy thanks to ZJH whose beautiful attacking play coupled with a lot of deception bedazzled and stirred my enthusiasm. YY is less deceptive,more mechanical but no less lethal in his smashes and generally more consistent than the electrifying,more temperamental ZJH. As for Lin Dan, I would venture to say he is the reborn ZJH minus the inconsistency or I would say he combines the best of both ZJH and YY,wow! So, for me at least, 1st Lin Dan,2nd Zhao Jianhua,3rd Yang Yang as far as these three are concerned. And overall,Lin Dan is The Greatest of All Time !
Before considering Lin Dan is the greatest, let's not forget Morten Frost. We are not only talking about China. Frost was a superb stroke player and made the least mistake. He was also good in defense. Zhao has killer shots but he made the most mistakes. That's why sometimes he lost to low ranked player when his mistakes were as much as his fantastic killer shots. Besides he was also poor in defense. As for Yang Yang, he made less mistakes but more than FRost, not so weak in defense compared with zhao and great smashes and good in stroke play too, almost on par with FRost. It would be nice to watch Lin Dan versus Frost.......i think it is 50-50.
Lin Dan generally had only one or 2 great players to contend in LCW and Peter Gade.l while Yang yang had to play Zhao JH, Morten Frost, Icuk Sugairto, Ardy, Misbun and Rashid Sidek, Paul Erik Larsen, Foo Kok Keomg, Xiong Guo Bao and many more. And u claim Lin Dan is better. Lin Dan is great but he is not better than Yang Yang.
I purposely omit fitness due to him failing to recover to peak fitness condition after suffering from pneumonia.
Not true, Lin Dan also have many great players to contend with, besides LCW and Peter Gade. There are also Taufik Hidayat and Chen Long, and others like Bao Chunlai, Lee Hyun-Il, Chen Hong, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Simon Santoso, Chen Jin, not to mention some of the lesser-known ones and the younger up-and-coming stars. Of course, you can argue some of them don't cut it but, to me, that's because they happened to be born in Lin Dan's era, objectively speaking, and to a lesser extent LCW's and Chen Long's eras, subjectively speaking for the last two mentioned. FYI, Xiong Guobao in one recent report, claimed Lin Dan is greater than either Zhao Jianhua or Yang Yang. Incidentally, both Zhao JH and Yang Yang are also my all-time favourites, regarding them second and third to Lin Dan. That's just my personal opinion.
The players u mentioned are all very good players but not in Morten Frost , Zhao Jian Hua , Xiong Guo Bao and Icuk Sugairto league. They are considered some of the greatest players in the history of the game Anyway it's all a matter of opinion. It can never be proven unless they play against each other.