Lee Kyung Won and Lee Hyo Jung were the glue and undoubted leaders of the Korean team. I loved the way LHY threw her body around the court, even hitting her head on the mat to retrieve everything. LKW's infectious enthusiasm and never say die attitude really pumped up the squad. Their big match experience proved decisive. It calmed down their respective partners and eventually brought the best out of them.
conspiracy theory abound here. some thinks Du's injury isn't real, others think lyb want to showoff and being arrogant to field injured players. Wow, so two extreme view on lyb, i'm sure many more unsaid that fall between these 2 extreme. Down 1-2, lyb has to be pretty bold or dumb to risk losing to the korea for his own arrogant behavior. I rather take the common sense view, lyb fielded Du/Yu because he thinks du/yu could beat the korea pair on techncial merits. lets analyse. If the match lasted the normal 40-50 mins, i think lyb's plan would pay off, even with a lightly injured Du. However, the korean side spotted china's weakness (du) and drag the match to 1 hr 19 mins. If this was a china versus china match, Du would had defaulted the match mid way(which anti-chinese fans would shout fix, fix). The scores were 21-19, 14-21, 21-19, very close. The korean WD basically out endure the chinese pair. If lyb was really arrogant, he would had fielded his 3rd WD, he could then boast even more highly, my worst pair can beat the korean first pair. Unfortunatly, lyb pick his #1 pair, jeez, so arrogant of him
It is easier said than done..I do not think LYB took KOR lightly...thats why he fielded their number 1,2 WS as well as WD number 1 and 2.. Trust me that no one would think KOR will win...so far only Saina took 1 set from WYH and no one even LYB would think that their WDs could be beaten...( all results of SS or WC had all CHN WD final or semi).. I think it is a miracle..( not to underestimate KOR as they had struggled against RUS, and INA before)..
Agree. LYB must be thinking...'If KOR's having trouble with weaker opponents, CHN would walk over them.." In the end, winning is not about who's better. It's about who has done the most thorough homework and used tactics that the opponent's not prepared for.That would trigger partial collapse and subsequent loss of confidence, gifting the other side with lots of unforced errors. After all, BSY is so much more inexperienced compared to WYH. But she did her homework; she has watched WYH videos so to know WYH's game so well. Such complete preparations must have given her the belief and filled her with full confidence she can upset WYH. And why not? Look at her body language. No fear. Sheer defiance.'I can match you and defeat you. I'll show you.' Unrelenting determination. The key reason why KOR struggled against other opponents but beat CHN is the difference in match preparations. KOR trained specifically for CHN and none for the rest. Whereas CHN was complacent the way MAS TC was complacent versus JPN TC. Two years later, it's gonna be even more exciting as KOR WS come of age and can match CHN WS 3 out of 3.
Watching video is one thing and no quarantee that you could win ( all players are watching their opponents' video too)...BSH lost to Firda twice in Uber cup qualification ... In my opinion that BSH, at that day, had nothing to lose and returned all the shuttles...the problem was WYH was too nervous and after losing 1st set, she crumpled and that gave KOR a hope as Majin.WSL were not confident too.
KOR must have learnt that from JJS/LYD 's defeat by MAS 's Hoon/Ong. Hoon/Ong gave JJS/LYD continuous training of such rallies, lasting some 2 minutes. No wonder LYD couldn't play his early morning XD match the next day in MO.
<just a follow up> korean ladies deserves to win it i like the upset factor, to win (korea) against the favorite (china)
i doubt about that. otherwise the lineup is a joke. you can decide who to play pending on the latest score and just tell the umpire you needed to replace an injured player. for example you could like to play X/Y when you're 2-1 up but A/B when you're 1-2 down etc.
Well, the injury has to be confirmed by the tournament docs before the change is allowed. So there are safeguards to allow such things. Of course you cannot change at a whim based on scores, that would be unethical. I am talking about real injuries that do not allow the player to perform.
if you take a look of the players with plasters all over their bodies it's not difficult to convince the doctor that its risky for you to play. the last thing for the doctor to do is refuse to certify the injury and the player carry on and done real damage. i just thought the if you named your lineup and your players got injured then you forfiet the match, much simplier.
Her name is actually Sung Ji Hyun. The family name is 'Sung' so even in European name order it would be 'Ji Hyun Sung'. Ji Sung Hyun is impossible. Not quite in the 20's. She is 16th in the world. Courtside were head coach Kim Joong Soo and women's singles coach Kim Ji Hyun, who lost the bronze medal match to Susi Susanti in '96.
thanks for the correction, event.. and fortunately i can see Kim Ji Hyun who lost to Mia Audina and Susi Susanti in 96. Never find her pic before, i only know ' Bang Soo Hyun'.. do you have 'Lee Young Suk' who lost to Susi Susanti in Final Sudirman Cup 1989
I have 2 questions: 1) They were not playing since quarterfinals, so if Du Jing was really injured before the final (or should I say earlier than that, maybe even before quarter final?), why the uber cup team coaches even named her in the starting lineup for the Cup final? 2) How did she injured herself - after she was named in the starting lineup, since there's no match play involved before the actual Uber Cup final took place. She slipped in the hotel toilet? My guess is she's far from being in 100% full fitness but at the same time still considerably fit enough to contest in the final.
it was obvious that DJ was injured and the KOR knew it. my guess is LYB was over confident that either WD2 wasnt necessary or even if they lost that there will still be the WS3, WR5 against WR100 or something. little did he imagined that CHN was 1-2 down after 3 matches.
just my opinion.. Chn W players nowadays are not like those days of Han Aiping, Li lingwei. n ZN of cos. very graceful and smooth on the court... it's not that the rest of the world managed to close the gap,just Chn W players are lacking in 'style' now. n i expect ZN to step down after this debacle.
I also believe that DJ was fielded because the Chinese team believe they would have won by 3-0 and WD2 is not necessary. No doubt they are over-confident and I hope they learn from the failure.