That sounds ominously like the 2000 Sydney Olympics when two of 'The Thing's' trainees (Hendrawan and Ji Xinpeng) battled it out for gold. I wonder if such a similar title clash between Taufik and Lin Dan will make Tang Xianhu sad or proud. I also wonder what he felt when they clashed at the Doha Asian Games. Maybe he was happy that they squared off, with each winning an encounter.
My coach was telling me about this guy. Back in the 60s, they went on a tour together in China. It was from him that he learned how to "whip" the shuttle, and also that Tang would frequently jump into the air to whip the shot down. Apparently, back then they would shave off much of the wooden frame of the racquet to reduce weight to allow this technique to be used.
I still remember having that photo taken. Pity I didn't have a better shot taken. I remember people around me wondering why I wanted to have my photo taken with a an old guy with a baseball cap.
I thought he had retired? So he is still coaching the China team? I guess he just does not travel then.
Wow... ..both you & kwun are fortunate to have, at least, taken a pic & shaked hands with a legend like Tang Xianhu...and Cheung & kwun, got a quick glimpse of your "youthful" appearances...
Ji Xinpeng (MS Olympics 2000 Gold Medallist) have also been thrown in to help the MS. They have put Xia Xuanze as coach to help the WS team. But, no doubt, almost everyone can beat the top 3 Chinese WS players now. Zhang Ning -- beaten by Wang Chen in WC 2007 Xie Xingfang -- beaten by Wong Mew Choo in WC 2007 Zhu Lin -- regularly beaten by Wang Chen and now Yip Pui Yin in JO 2007 So, things look quite shaky for them indeed. Here's the news article from Sina.com.cn which reveals the change in the coaching setup in the China Badminton Team. 国羽教练组大调整 张军进女双刘永督军男双混双 -- Restructuring in the Chinese National Team Coaching Team, Zhang Jun to coach WD while Liu Yong to help in MD and XD 今天，夏煊泽、吉新鹏、张军和刘永四人正式进入国家队教练组。这是中国羽毛球队自世锦赛归来后，对教练班子做的一个大调整。 本次入选国家队教练班子的四名年轻教练员都有奥运会的参赛经历，其中奥运冠军吉新鹏进入男单组，夏煊泽进入女单组，张军进入女双组，刘永进入男双和混双组。国家队总教练李永波表示，这次与其说是调整教练班子，不如说是充实，主要目的是要加强教练力量，更好地备战奥运。尤其是四名年轻教练都拥有很好的技术和经验，都有奥运会参赛经历，能对队员起到潜移默化的作用。 对新岗位，几名新教练都显得踌躇满志。曾经担任国少女队和国青队教练的夏煊泽，坦言重回国家体育总局训练局的羽毛球馆就不能自拔地兴奋起来。而原本担任国家二队教练的吉新鹏则认为自己已经准备好了：“毕竟我是过来人，我可以把经验传递给队员。从运动员直接退下来当教练，也更容易和队员沟通。” 除注入“新鲜血液”外，国家队原教练组也进行了调整，老教练汤仙虎将作为专家组成员重点协调男单组的工作，主要侧重于林丹的训练。女单组的变动也相对较大，女单组项目负责人仍是原主教练唐学华，但执行教练由原男单组教练李志锋担任，同时配以男单世界冠军出身的夏煊泽做助手，重点解决女单目前存在的问题，尤其要帮助张宁和谢杏芳两位老队员保持体能，调整好心态迎接奥运。 Besides including some new bloods, the main coaching structure within the National Team will also undergo some changes. Old coach, Tang Xianhu will specially be in charge of a team of experts to help the coaching job in MS, with the emphasis being put on Lin Dan's training. The WS coaching structure will also undergo quite a huge change. The chief coach in charge will still be Tang Xuehua, but, the one in charge of training will be Lin Zhifeng (originally in charge of MS). At the same time, he will be helped by the former World Champion Xia Xuanze, with emphasis being to solve the current problem plaguing the WS, especially to help senior players like Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang in terms of their fitness, to prepare them well for the Beijing Olympics 2008.
In that picture, the 'old guy' was not the only one wearing a cap If I remember right, the 'young guy' too was wearing one The people around you must have thought it's a cappy groupie thing
To my knowledge, Tang Xianfu liked heavier racquets, specially head-heavy ones. Have not heard about shaving the racquet to reduce weight and also believe that was not needed: he had racquets made for him according to his preference.
Taufik was never coached by Tang. Taufik was taught by Iie Sumirat... I just checked with former INA National Team players. Taufik Hidayat was never coached by Coach Tang... Taufik was coached by one of the few players who beat Tang Xianhu: Iie Sumirat! Taufik was Iie's child prodigy [since TH was 9 or something]... we can see Iie's unorthodox-ness in Taufik... [as well as some of Iie's off-court bad habits]... I mean no disrespect to Iie. He is a cool guy... he is just an imperfect human like the rest of us... So, in the past, Iie defeated Tang... Now it is time for Iie's student [Taufik] to play Tang's student [Lin]...
Really? In fact, my original post mentions the Thing's defeat at Sumirat's hands. There's no dispute that Sumirat coached Taufik at a young age. However, on the question of Tang Xianhu coaching Taufik, did you speak with Hendrawan or Icuk? Taufik's first crown in the Grand Prix circuit was the Brunei Open, at the age of 16 or 17. (Like in today's match at the Japan Open, it was Chen Hong that he beat in the first round!) This was in July 1998 when Tang Xianhu was still coaching Indonesia (he left for China later in the year). It follows that he must have guided the young Taufik as well. Earlier, in 1997, Taufik was also the Asian men's singles junior champion. Again, this could not have been without Tang Xianhu's supervision. The best person to answer this question would be Taufik himself. Maybe kwun or cheung could ask The Thing
Assume The Thing actually coached/taught Taufik.. ..during those yrs, perhaps Taufik, himself, will not reveal the truth..hmm..I'm sure The Thing also coached/taught other players, but then, not every player The Thing coached/taught can turn out to be like Taufik. Perhaps, The Thing influenced Taufik the most..But as the facts have shown, Taufik is just something else....a different genius, on his own, just like The Thing was..
After the '92 Barcelona Olympics, Tang Xinfu was switched to coach Ladies doubles. I don't think he was ever assigned back to coach the men singles, since Indonesia was very strong in MS event at that time.
So what if your original post mentioned it? I was not responding to your original post. Do I need to quote your original post which was irrelevant to my post? I don't need to refer to your post because I know that fact before you posted it. I did ask Hendrawan a few minutes ago, he said, "No, Taufik was never handled by Oom Tong" I also spoke with several other people within the National Team who were there when both Taufik and Coach Tang was in the National Team. Tang Xianhu was handling Women's Doubles when Taufik was a Junior Boy's Singles... [Exactly as I remembered too]... Tang was not always in charge of MS in INA. If people think he only managed one field [MS] while he was in INA, thus he must have guided Taufik, that is a misguided knowledge... Coach Tang's assignments varied... Just like in China... he moved from MD to WS to MS etc... I will ask Taufik himself next time I see him... The trick is to guess which nightclub he will visit this weekend...
You must understand that there are limits to how much you can custom-make your racquet. A shaved down wooden racquet might be the same weight as a steel racquet (and consequently that much more maneuverable), but at the expense of durability, which doesn't matter when you're a pro, since you get free racquets anyways. So, keep in mind that a "heavy" racquet means different things when referring to a a)wooden b)steel c)carbon racquet frame.
My my, we're quite prickly today, aren't we? Well, that settles it -- Tang Xiahu never coached Taufik I guess the next time Lin Dan beats Taufik, Tang Xianhu will have no reason to be sad.
TANG Xianhu is coaching LD now！！！ And we have 4 new coaches now！！！ LIU Yong，XIA Xuanze，JI Xinpeng，ZHANG Jun！！
What is the point having a racquet made to your specifications then? I am too slow... that's too deep. If a racquet is heavy, it does not matter if it is wood, steel or carbon, it still feels heavy. At that time Tang Xianhu used the racquets manufactured by Aeroplane, manufactured under his specifications. These racquets feels even heavier than the then Carlton 3.7 series and he wouldn't switch his Aeroplane racquets (used in singles and doubles) with any other brands in the market.
