^ shrugs. Maybe they'd be ready by WC and will compete after that. oh tell me about it! I was pretty pissed too cause Ko n Ha were really fantastic. I'm not sure if Ha is back in the national setup cause last I read, she was there for doubles trials. Didn't get selected for the sudirman side but unsure about the national side. If she is, would love to see her pair up with Ko again...As for the current crop of ladies, I might be wrong but I don't see any really good XD players? Kim Hana is extremely ineffective as far as I'm concerned.. Maybe Jung Kyung Eun and Jang Yena? These two seem to be more powerful than the rest. Hmm
Its sad that 2 great players dont seen to be a good partnership. In the final of the SC it just looked like they would never win. Im getting more excited now for the shin/yoo partnership - hopefully they will gel well. Such a shame fror LYD amd Ko, fingers crossed they get their act together!
^ Interesting... I suppose due to the other top pairs like Fu/Cai, Bo/Moe taking a break after the Olympics, and Koo/Tan having gone downhill...
They are a good partnership... Please don't judge from a small sample of performances.. They are #1 within one year of their partnership. Not an easy feat. They've been on a slump recently so judging on history they'll peak around the WC period
Ko's a great mixed player. When he plays well. LYD is more consistent, and he plays a smarter game. But he's a genius so he doesn't count Ko > LYD in attack LYD needs to play with a girl that can attack. that's why he was successful with LHJ and the coach paired him up with HJE. He can't play with KHN because KHN doesn't have a smash that can penetrate. KHN isn't exactly special at the net either. THere's no one right now that suits LYD's unique XD style.
Also LYD isn't as smash-happy as he used to be up until his elbow injury...when I saw him play XD at the '11 German Open, he was really not able to penetrate the defense quickly... Anyhow, those who said Ko didn't smash in the Sudirman Cup final surely saw another match than I did. He did smash, but the Chinese defense was superb and he did in fact lose the angle quite a few times. Otoh LYD flubbed a couple shots in the second half of the first game which really got them into trouble (especially the error on serve). Anyway, I really don't get the negativity here. They're #1 after less than a year (BoMo didn't take much time off, btw), and have only lost against 2 pairs in the last months (Liu/Qiu and Ahsan/Setiawan). I'll bet they won't lose against the INA pair again anytime soon (it was really a one-off performance by Ahsan, it's the only time I've seen him play that well), so their task now is to figure out a way to beat the Chinese pair. Playing softer would be a first step - BoMo sure seem to perform better against them.
Right analysis. The Liu/Qiu is a rookie but amazing partnership - they are real "drive" machines with a lot of knee bending. I saw them beat the Ahsan/Setiawan in the earlier tournament (maybe All England) although the INAans are known to be the genius at such super quick drive games. They often finish each rally in a few hits at the net and in the middle court area (no fun for the audience, but that's a great technique to get an easy win). That's why the JJS/LYD was beaten quite a lot by the Kido/Setiawan before. Recently, I guess, as HTG re-taking the coaching role of Korean MD teams, he didn't know how the new CHN partnership plays; he just re-joined the national team, after the KSH/LYD lost to the CHN pair in the last All England Open in the same way we saw in the last SC. So, it's damn true that the CHN pair has a great abilities in doing the fast drive games (actually, Koreans also enjoying that. But I think they simply didn't expect such plays from the CHN teams.); but I would bet for LYD (and KSH) who is the most "adaptive" player. He will find proper tactics for the CHN team and HTG should also know how to collapse such team who is good at drive games. The new CHN team plays totally different from Cai/Fu or other teams. That has been shaking the Korean partnership until now. But I believe it will be different in the next few matches as the Korean team will do a lot of video analyses and preparations to break down the team. Especially, the competition in the category of MD is getting tough again. JPN teams are getting stronger and is also the THN team.
once again,ko's weakness in defence utilize by ahsan n setiawan in indonesia ss final.hmm.i thnk lyd must feeling upset with it.ko need to improve his defence n minimize easy mistake if he wants to win wc ths year
Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan ISN'T a ROOKIE pair. They have been around since 2009. They only show improving performance in 2013.
Yep, I did. Haven't seen the match, so how it happened is still a mystery to me, but I can say I'm very surprised....seems like I underestimated the INA pair. Still, in the long run, other pairs should be able to utilize their weaknesses (Setiawan's slow movement, Ahsans inability to play soft shots). Ko/Lee's weaknesses are being exploited already, after all Gonna be very interesting to see which pair can establish themselves as #1 in the coming year or so - the Danes seem to be out of the race (for now at least), and Ko/Lee are actually the best known pairing of the 3 I consider the best (Ko/Lee, Liu/Qiu & Setiawan/Ahsan) right now. BoMo will probably hang on to a Top 4 ranking as well. Hope Setiawan can keep his form, he is very much the decisive player in the pairing and the oldest of the 6 players. Otoh his style really doesn't rely on his physicality (unlike Ko, Liu, Qiu) so he might just be able to play a couple more years...
It's not a mystery, it's Ahsan. Haven't watched final yet, but saw the sf decimation of FuCai, Ahsan is again on fire and playing like a mad man on a mission. Just like he did at Malaysia Open final against KoLee. Ko is actually showing improvements already, but when Ahsan is like this, they can beat anyone. However, his game is very physical, so as you say about demanding, he likely can't maintain this style for every tournament.
I would love to see Ko/Yoo partnership more than Ko/Lee. It seems like Ko doesn't feel comfy playing with LYD. He apologizes to LYD almost every single time they lose a rally. On the other hand, I think Yoo and Ko have great partnership due to their similar playing styles. They motivate each other by shouting loud after rallies and the partnership is quite comfy with fast-pace rally. LYD has a more tactic style of play which doesn't match up with Ko IMO. They're all good players. Perhaps, KO/LEE need time to build up their perfect partnership. I would love to see LYD/Kim Ki Jung(he is a younger version of JJS, using MX-JJS too and has some sort of maturity like JJS in game which matches well with LYD I suppose) , KO/YOO, Shin/Kim Sa Rang partnerships in Korean national team.
It was disappointing to see Ko picked apart so easily. Although he has definitely improved substantially, my confidence that the Koreans can fill those holes is somewhat flagging.
I think Ko-Yoo went down the crapper ever since it became obvious they would get split up whenever JJS were to retire (US/Canada Open 2011?; only playing on borrowed time from the on and probably some time before). A solid #2 pairing for Korea (top 4 wr) ... bring 'em back and bring on LYD/KSR , and let the leftovers work it out (SBC-KKJ) .
