When you see what Xu Chen was smashing, there's not so much difference between LYD an Ko. I'm not saying the difference doesn't exist but if Ko wants an unbeatable smash, getting more speed onto it isn't going to be the main concern (though a nice bonus).
sometimes having 290 km/h smashes doesn't help if he runs out of steam after the first game...a la Xu Chen
True, you need the stamina to be able to hit thunder smashes all day long. But equally what's the point in being able to hit smashes all day long if they don't do any damage? When I last saw him play, Ko's smash just wasn't that much better than LYDs. If you have someone like LYD partnering you at the net, you want to involve him as much as you can. If your smash doesn't quite have that edge, then you're not giving your net partner enough opportunities or you're not making life easy enough for him. LYD is best at the net, so if you're partnering him, you need to be excellent in the rear court. Ko is not a bad player, he is more of a rounded player though compared to JJS. But Ko is certainly better around the net than JJS.
I watched him on bwf playing in the korean open against BoMo last night. Thought Ko has improved and his confidence has grown but he is still making a lot of unforced errors and whilst his defence is much more solid, it is still not quite on par with LYDs. That's the trouble when you partner one of the best defenses in the game - you cannot be a weaker link. Interesting to see JJS was watching it too, wonder what he thinks of his successor?
Ko was born in 1987 so he's one year older than Lee Yong Dae. However, he never got the international experience as a junior and I don't believe he was on the national team in his first year as a senior, either. It was only after he reached the semi-finals of the nationals in 2006 that he started playing internationally and he and Kwun Yi Goo won the Vietnam Open, then the Suwon Int'l and finally were sent to major international events in 2008, when they were already 21.
watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pgGZJWP_rU JPN vs. KOR He got huge elevation on one of his smashes, and got the lift himself. Also saw a lot of nice pushes to open spaces that got them a lot of lifts, and nice variety from the backcourt. Net errors and weak defensive lifts, yeah, but as he continues to improve...if his defense gets on par with LYD...it will be so sick.
nah... it'll only be sick if LYD had a twin... that is left handed! can you imagine, they'll dominate md for years to come...
Malaysia Open final vs IND WTpooh was that?!!!!! What a disastrous performance! Where the heaven was the coach? The first game was a train wreck of a performance by KO. While his attacking play may be the strongest of the Korean doubles players, I still believe that his unforced error rate is too high for top level play (that is when facing top players who are on their game, as was the case during legendary finals with JJS vs Fu/Cai). I think Yu YY or Shin BC or Kim SR would fare better overall with LYD, despite their slightly weaker attack. The second game, it seems to me, was a coaching disaster. When facing one of the world's best potential player in Setiawan who happens to be playing his A+++ game, why in the world would the koreans keep taking him on and losing easy points (for IND). They should have switched to plan B, using the mid-court area and trying to get a lift and if not, lifting high and deep and trying to counter attack. Ko's defense is erratic but by insisting with Setiawan at the net, they gave away that second game for FREE!!!! Despondent Korean fan, JJashik
Not to defend the KOR pair, but I've never seen Setiawan plays as well as that. And Ahsan was playing like he was a man possessed! He was playing front court, mid court, back court well. Every where! An amazing replacement for Kido. Even if Jung was still playing, the KOR would've still lost yesterday.
You're dreaming. Shin is too slow, Yoo has a weaker defense, weaker attack and erratic net play, and Kim might possibly be a decent partner for LYD but often makes very bad choices. Haven't gotten around to watching the game but it takes 2 to lose, and crying for a change of partners after one lost match (against one of the world's best forecourt players, especially in intercepting drives) is just an overreaction. Watched the Semifinal today and Ko played really really well. LYD actually served worse and was often WAY too deep in his defensive stance. While Ko has to stop his unforced errors, he his still a better partner for LYD than any player you mentioned.
100% agree with you there. changing parners after one loss is a immature descion. from the match you could clearly see LYD was doing very bad as well, it looked NOTHING like his normal form. doubles is a 2 man game. and during that game they were clearly out classed by the INDO pair.
Haha, this match was like a freak accident where your ship gets hit by a 50m wave that occurs like once in 20years - afterwards, there's a lot of finger-pointing and assigning blame, but in reality, all you can say is "Sometimes bad things happen." You can safely assume Ahsan is never gonna play a match like that again. It was a 100% increase from his usual form...and those blaming Ko should take a closer look at Lee. He was very off form as well, taking far less than usual (sometimes causing an error from Ko as he had nearly no time to react to Lee quickly retracting his racket), and defending very weakly. Actually Ko scored the vast majority of the points, either directly or by defending until the Indonesians made an error. For Lee, it must've been a very uncomfortable experience, for Ko, it was probably a nightmare. Also, the point from 19-13 to 20-13 was unbelievable - the shuttle was at least 6cm out. Line judge must've slept or has worse eyesight than me without lenses. And the umpire was rather inattentive as well. Could've seen such a clear error, and the fault he called in the first game (against Ko's attempted net kill) was very very likely not warranted (from Ko's hitting action and posture you can see he [probably] didn't hit the shuttle before it had crossed over, and he didn't touch the net).
1st set tactical indo pair ahsan is front player..if 2nd set korea can change game and win,i think last set setiawan will front player...so 3rd set maybe interesting to watch... about line judge...it just like karma for korea....a lot bad line call from korea open...2point out but indo got point doesnt effect anything...korea cant change game to force indo defend...
Agreed, both Hendra & Ahsan playing really well yesterday. They have put pressure since the beginning and KOR duo just do not have the answer to these, as a result they are under pressure and lost the match. Not to mention, Hendra/Ahsan played on their form.