CHINA International Challenge 2014 (Lingshui, 11-16 February 2014)

LCW is the elite MD player of those 4 he would no doubt carry the game.

 

I wonder why Liu Xin hasn't been competing in any of the SS or GP tournaments lately.
Why is she only playing such a low level tournament.

 

The unknown CHN youngsters are continuing to give the foreign players a really hard time.

Xu Yingchao,born 8/23/1995,knocked out the top seed in WS HKG Chan Tsz Ka in three sets, 21-11,19-21,21-11.

Chen Mingchun, born 9/21/1997, removed the WS 3rd seed TPE Cheng Chi Ya in two straights, 21-19 ,21-10.

Zhou Zeqi, born 9/18/1997, eliminated 6th seed TPE Lin Yu Hsien in three sets, 21-7,17-21,22-20.

In MD, Wang Yilv/Zhang Wen upset the 3rd seed TPE Chen Chung Jun/Wang Chi-lin in a very close three-set encounter, 13-21,23-21,23-21.

Incidentally, just now, Wei Nan was stretched to three sets by 17-yr-old Ye Binghong, born 1/16/1997, before winning 16-21,21-11,21-12.

In WD, both Xia Huan and Zhong Qianxin, who had long injury layoff and treated in Germany last year, are trying out their partnerships here and they duly beat their fellow 2nd seed Yu Xiaohan/Huang Yaqiong,21-14,21-18, who were runner-up in the IND Open GPG three weeks ago.

Still no livestream for the TV court.Sigh.

 

guess xue song will win the ms
and the other 3 players in semi final will be all from hkg, ka long ng, chun hei tam and nan wei

 

17-yr-old Ren Pengbo, born 1/5/1997, stuns Xue Song in G1, coming from 12-19 behind to take the next nine points. In G2, he matches XS until 13-all before allowing XS to force the rubber.

XS had better buck up. Spring Festival mood, 15 days from 30th Jan to 13th Feb this year? No excuse, when you're in competition. If this is his form, I'd say Wei Nan(2) or one of the other two HKG players, Ng Ka Long(5) and Tam Chun Hei (7), have better chances to take the title. Btw, TCH was earlier stretched by Zhu Siyuan in three sets.

 

My guess is that after the rude shock in G1(19-21), Xue Song gradually shook off the blues in the second half of G2, equalized with 21-14, then in G3 he stamped his authority for a runaway victory,21-6.

 

For the WS QFs, all 8 contestants are CHN after the 1st,3rd and 4th seeds who are foreign players,namely HKG 23-yr-old Chan Tzs Ka, TPE Cheng Chi Ya (no biodata available) and HKG 20-yr-old Ngan Yi Cheung were defeated by 18-yr-old Xu Yingchao, 16-yr-old Chen Ming Chun, and 20-yr-old Shen Yaying respectively.

The two youngest WS QFs are 15-yr-old Chen Xiaoxin, born 4/24/1998, and just turned 16-yr-old Ji Shuting, born 2/13/1998 today.

For the CHN MS QFs, Zhou Zeqi is 16 yrs old, born 9/18/1997 - he'll be up against Xue Song tomorrow; Liu Zejia is 17 yrs old, born 3/7/1996 - he'll face-off Ng Ka Long tomorow; Liao Junwei's biodata not available; Huang Yixiang's biodata unavailable but I think he's around Xue Song's age who just turned 20 this month.

Of the three HKG MS QFs, Tam Chun Hei is 20 yrs old, born 8/2/1993; Ng Ka Long is 19 yrs old, born 6/24/1994; Nan Wei's biodata unavailable but I remember reading somewhere he's about 27/28 yrs old.

Just curious about their ages based on biodata sourced from BWF, that's all, particularly those unknown names from CHN.

 

It will be good for Chinese badminton if the youngsters can make the quantum leaps today to defeat their more established compatriots/opponents.

 

Only few foreign players , i mean players from Indonesia / malaysia (no other country participated except these two). Where as, remaining players are from either China or its one of its subordinate country, i mean Chinese Taipei, Hongkong china. So, they can't be considered as foreigners to them since they all play nationals together . It's more or less similar to a local tournament.

 

I nearly fell off my chair laughing. What a good laugh for me to bring the CNY celebrations to a close. Saying that Chinese Taipei is a subordinate country of China is like saying that Bangladesh or Pakistan is a subordinate country of India. LOL.
The Chinese juniors playing here are the second-tier juniors. If they can beat their comparatively more established and experienced seniors, most of whom are second stringers too, it will certainly be good for Chinese badminton. On the other hand if China have thrown in all their best players and a foreign country comes along with their juniors and one or two second-tier seniors and walk away with 4 or all the titles Chinese badminton must as well close shop.

 

LD and PG versus TH and LCW would be the great double!

 

Zhou Zeqi and Chen Xiaoxin did not win but they certainly put up some good fight against their respective opponents. Did not expect Xu Yingchao to win. Her opponent, Liu Xin, is perhaps the only world class player taking part in the Challenge. Shen Yaying's defeat of CXJ who is trying to relaunch her career after her injury does not come as a surprise. She was, after all ,the Asian Junior runner-up against Sun Yu in 2011.

 

Liao Junwei beating HKG Tam Chun Hei (7) is somewhat unexpected for me. But I think he'd find Wei Nan a tough nut to crack tomorrow. Wei Nan on his day is a handful for most players, his height and reach coupled with his tight net play forcing you to lift and sharp,stinging smashes from the baseline is difficult to deal with most of the time.

 

And he is quite patient and good at rallying too. Who is this mysterious player called Liao JunWei. Another late bloomer who is already a coach like Li Yu? Xue Song vs Ng Ka Long match will be keenly contested, with XS having a slight edge. Shen Yaying will probably beat her contemporary,Hui Xirui. Will see how far the last 16-year-old, Ji Suting can go against Liu Xin.

 

Indeed Liao Junwei is a mystery man, no idea who he is nor have any info on him (TS biodata shows his DOB as 1/1/1980 which is certainly wrong; in fact this DOB is often used for any player who's unknown). As there's no livestream, can't tell how good he is. Even so, I won't rule him out completely after seeing how several of these unknown CHN young juniors here are doing but,still, I doubt he can beat Wei Nan tomorrow.

As for Liu Xin, you're right to describe her as the only truly world class CHN player in this tournament, her male counterpart Xue Song isn't quite comparable to her in stature on the world stage, at least not yet.

On the whole, like you, I'm quite impressed by this cohort of CHN juniors, esp the WS, should I say GS (though some of them are not here, such as He Bingjiao, Qin Qingqing, and MS/BS Zhao Junpeng, Shi Yuqi, Lin Guipu, etc).

 

Looks like Ji Shuting is not yet ready to do a "Ji Xinpeng", not that they are related as far as I know.

 

I gave XS a slight edge over NKL, looks like he is trying to prove me wrong. I don't think he can repeat the "Houdini" this time round. Congrats NKL.

 

XS is falling progressively behind Kento and Axelssen. If he and Huang Yuxiang do not buck up the "長江後浪"(incoming Yangtze waves following from behind) in the persons of Zhao Junpeng, Shi Yuqi, Lin Guipu and Sun Feixiang will soon push them into oblivion.