I've read somewhere on newspaper, not sure was it TheStar or NewStraitsTimes that he pulled of at eleventh hour. Means his name was in then he pull it out for some reason. Just curious what happen
Zulfadli at least fulfills his seeding at the INA GPG and will entertain Alamsyah Yunus for a place in the last 8. He should be ranked in the top 75 by next week. His target should be to reach the top 50 by the end of the year, which should be a realistic one for him.
Next tournament for ZZ--TPE Open next week. The best of luck for him and other MAS players...just dont jinx the whole thing by prematurely predict success for oneself again.
ZZ had a hard time against Liew Daren in 3 set games, too bad he lost too early, or else he can upgrade his world ranking...
I don't think anyone can succeed on the Super Series circuit without looking buff. LCW and Lin Dan are both quick because of their physical conditioning. It helps that they're naturally gifted players as well. Chen Long may not be as gifted but his physical conditioning is super amazing, and his court coverage is certainly up there among the best in the world. Ditto Chen Jin. What they lack in "talent" they more than make up for through their fitness level. Taufik had his 15 minutes of fame, probably one of the most naturally gifted players on the planet, but his fitness level leaves a lot to be desired. Just compare him to Gade. It's all about maintaining fitness, consistency, and regularly honing & improving one's technique. Takes a lot of hard work! ZZ is at risk of being a "one hit" wonder. Half of the battle would be won if he can reach the same level of physical fitness as Lin Dan or LCW. It's not rocket science, just a combination of eating right and following a strict fitness programme that can be tailor-made for him to reach a particular level. It involves making a lot of sacrifices, and being lazy will not cut it. With current advances in sports science and coaching techniques, most of the players now would beat some of the old time "greats" fairly easily. It's hard to catch up if one isn't willing to make the necessary sacrifices to reach the pinnacle of their fitness and skillset.
people put too much expectation for this young kid ... let him progress slowly .... he already making good progress... now rank 69 and qualified in qualifying round for denmark open and french open ... Daren Liew and Chong wei Feng only been noticed this years yet their age already 24 and 25 ... i just hope he can perform better .... in denmark open ... i think he had the chance making to the first round of denmark open Can wait to see how he perform in local circuit ...he was expected to meet Daren again in quarter final
I believe most of us want to see him compete in international tournament more frequently. Even if it only GP and GP Gold, it should be enough for him to gain experience he may need in the future.
Let hope at least 2 of them can go on to replace LCW. If I'm not mistaken LCW also started to really mature as a player when he was 24 - 25 right?
ZZ is competing Pahang Curcuit and he may meet top seed Daren Liew in quarterfinal... latest meet is in Chinese Taipei 2nd round when ZZ lost to DL in 3 games...
Being young but not necessary a 'kid' doesn't not mean one can't be a World or Olympic champion. We have seen this in other sports. For badminton, just take a look at Rudy Hartono, the great Indonesian player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Hartono "Rudy Hartono Kurniawan (Chinese: 梁海量; pinyin: Liang Hailiang), born August 18, 1949) is a former Indonesian badminton star who won the men's singles title at the World Championship in 1980, and the prestigious All-England Championship trophy eight times, seven times consecutively (1968–1974), in the 1960s and 1970s. He is one of the most famous players in the history of the sport. His sister is also a former world-level badminton player, Utami Dewi Kinard." Rudy won the AE when he was 19.
Or the more well known in this era Taufik Hidayat But those are total exceptions, no one should expect them to be like these talents just because they won WJC.
well, till today only Chen Jin had won 2 times WJC and 1 time WC, got anyone else who won WJC and WC before?
Talking about Taufik Hidayat, I think he is more exceptional, a player to be admired for his vision for badminton after retirement. Perhaps many of you have seen on TV that he has made a major contribution to Indonesian badminton by building the Taufik Hidayat Arena, a beautiful sports centre with up-to-date facilities for playing and training. http://www.taufikhidayatarena.com/ " Designed by the renowned architectural team of URBANE Indonesia, headed by Mr Ridwan Kamil, the complex promises its attendees a degree of comfort on as well as off court, that has never been seen before in other Badminton Centres in Indonesia. The two storey building will eventually house 8 Badminton Courts, 10 Dormitory Rooms and Dormitory Lounge, Gym, Medical/Physio Room, a Futsal Ground, Jogging Track, Outdoor Cafetaria, Internet lounge, Conference & Audio/Visual Room, Taufik Hidayat Arena merchandise store as well as a Taufik Hidayat Gallery which plans to take you on a journey of all of Taufik Hidayat golden moments in Badminton." This is what he has to say: "Taufik asserted again the main reason to build Taufik Hidayat Arena was born out of his desire to not just build another sports center, but to help aid the government and PBSI in the progress of badminton as a national sport in the country. Heads of KONI and PBSI both stated their encouragements in their speeches, in which they stated that they hoped that Taufik Hidayat Arena could prove to be a positive aid for the regeneration process and to help achieve Indonesia’s past glorys in the world of badminton. Taufik Hidayat Arena plans to open its door to the public; to play badminton as a hobby in the facilities that it would have to offer, as well to be part of its Training programme which is designed and will be coached by the training team of Taufik Hidayat."