Red Hot Off The Press ...... Group 2 Winners Scotland, slight underdogs to Netherlands, bit the favourites where it hurt most, in Women's Singles and Men's Doubles. After trading Mixed Doubles with Men's Singles, it took jump smasher Kristy Gilmour almost an hour and several heart-stopping moments to subdue Patty Stolzenbach in 3 games .... yup, the jumper was staring defeat in the face and had to suffer several painful dives to salvage the match. But that was nothing compared to Robert Blair and Paul Van Rietvede's battle with Ruud Bosch and Koen Ridder. The tables were turned slightly when Bosch suffered a hand injury in game 2, still it took the stubborn Scots a lot of effort to come back from 6 pts down late in the decider. Backed by overworked TV Crew (who were praying to finish early) they just nicked it with no more pts to spare, 30-28. Pics here ..... During the critical phase of the Men's Doubles match, these conversations occurred ..... Eefje Muskens : Are you sure the boys are going to make it? Doesn't look very good ..... Selena Piek : Don't worry. They are just toying around the Scot with a Dutch name. Emily Gilmour : God, I wish we don't need to play again. It still hurts from the dive in the singles match .... Imogen Bankier : Hmm, let me see if we could force the Dutch girls to concede the match without playing. Imogen Bankier about to strike Selena Piek senseless ...... Emily Gilmour pretends to look away. But luckily, Bankier didn't need to get that far ...... They won, and hugs and kisses all around ..... .... and so, SCOTLAND becomes the Champion of Group 2 For meritorious service in the faces of, err. Bosch and Ridder, Robert Blair is elevated to Umpire-hood Scots huddle around a cameraman taking pics from below ..... the tournament referee was nearby to ensure the "No Flash Photography" rule is still enforced.
OK ....Now back to Quarter Final Action So, where were we? Oh, yea, Korea had already killed off German hopes (and Malaysian hopes too if they were there instead). But Indonesia and China were still in the battle .... and the third match pits the reigning Olympic and four time World MD Champions, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, up against the new rising hope for Indonesia, Angga Pratama and Rian Agung Saputro. INA MD started in fine fashion ..... ...... keeping the shuttle low where possible .... ...... but able to use their firepower too ..... Nonetheless, a couple of key netcords went the Chinese way, and they took the first game 21-19. In game 2 ...... .... Fu Haifeng continued smashing away ...... ..... placing the Indonesian defence under heavy distress ..... But somehow, the Indonesians started to take control as the Chinese effectiveness and speed were brought down .... And so .... .... the Indonesian contingent celebrated the 2nd game win .... Now under pressure, Head Doubles Coach Tian Bingyi took charge at the interval .... ...... and both World Champion Coaches did a spot of meditating to remove negative chi ..... .... but they didn't factor that the lovely Nina Vislova joined the Indonesian Camp, to add weight to an already powerful support .... ...... and thus INA victory is inevitable. State of Tie : CHN 1 INA 2
At 1-2 down, China brought in their trumpcard, Olympic Champion Li Xuerui to counter the challenge of Lindaweni Fanetri. Linda, of course, had already inflicted defeat on Wang Yihan earlier this year, so a repeat performance is averted ..... Mentoring Linda is this lady, one of the longest serving Indonesian coaches, who is also sister to legendary Indonesian doubles star Tjun Tjun (yeah, most of you don't know or have ever seen Tjun Tjun play). She is ..... .... Coach Liang Chiu Hsia, ex-Chinese WS player in the 60s, and coach of the legendary Susi Susanti .... Does it make Linda another Susi? The answer is ..... .... No. Linda was under pressure from the start. During the end of game break .... ..... Coach Liang asked Linda to swing her racquet faster (note her moving arm) ..... while LXR's coaches asked her to maintain status quo ..... .... which is whack the shuttle hard ... ...... and manage her defenses well. The game was over just after 40 minutes, and it put China back level .....
Two recently "un-retired" World WD Champions make up the last Chinese bastion. Both players have had bad experience before in team competitions, having lost (with different partners) in the Uber Cup final of 2010, which resulted in heavy tongue lashing from their Head Coach, and tears raining down that threatened to flood the VIP box of Putra Stadium. Their challenge, came in the form of Lilyana Natsir (yup, she had to play again, it's the only way to make Mixed Doubles play first) and Nitya Krishinda Maheswary. From the beginning of the match ..... ...... the Indonesian girls had to feint body attacks .... ....... powerful smashes ....... ....... and only rarely managed to make their missiles count. Indonesians went down easily in the first game. During the interval ...... Coach Tian Bingyi came to remind them to win, or else ....... Wang Xiaoli : What did Coach mean by "Or Else?" Yu Yang : He meant we will be sent to Siberia, or worse, North Korea ...... Thus, they redoubled their efforts ..... .... in defence ...... ...... in attack ...... ....... yup, even in body defence ...... ..... and were finally proclaimed winners in a tight 2nd game. Relief!!!
Next up, will be the quarterfinal ties of Denmark vs Chinese Taipei, and Japan vs Thailand ..... But first, need some sleep .....
I believed that the cameraman should be Raphael Sachetat who is covering the tournament. I could be wrong but Yves wouldn't fit under there
We now turn our attention to the evening sessions' quarterfinal ties, where Denmark is expected to roll past Chinese Taipei. Yup, who said losing in the group match does not come with privileges. Japan too place a high target on themselves - which was to show Thailand the door. What they didn't expect then was the re-emergency of the Thai singles queen despite injury ........ The first match in the DEN-TPE tie was between the Olympic XD bronze medallists, up against one of their nemesis, Harry Potter and the ever problematic service of Auntie Cheng Weng Hsing. Head to head records indicated that Harry and Auntie had a slight edge - but then again, Harry hadn't picked up his wand in ages ...... and you know magic disappears if not used regularly. The Danes started with full agression ...... ...... with Joachim Fischer firing on all cylinders .... ...... and whatever attacks were easily parried away ...... Auntie Cheng : What happened to your wand? Harry Potter : I think it's out of magic dust ..... shxt, we're screwed. But Harry persists in continuing his attacks ..... ..... with Auntie Cheng managing the midcourt ...... ....... but fate decided that they will be on the defensive. Danish supporters and teammates celebrate victory .... ..... and gave the winners a standing ovation ..... .... and so Fischer loses another racquet Meanwhile, on the other court ........ Hashimoto and Maeda started brightly against the former World Championship bronze medallists. Alas, that was not to last, once flamboyant Sudket started off with his trademark jumps. It was difficult for the Japanese to anticipate whether Sudket was going to smash or do a dropshot ...... Nice sexy pose from Miyuki Maeda ..... Initially, the Japanese pair had good defensive posture ...... ...... and so Hashimoto was free to attack ..... ..... and fire his heavy cannons But they were just unable to close the game and the Thais stole it at the last moment. Come game 2 ...... Sudket : Err, Captain, maam, do we need to make Maeda look bad? She is soo cute, I might want to date her someday ..... Captain Saralee : Ooi, recruit!!Are you saying I am not good enough for you?! Focus and execute the flamboyant maneuver. And so, Sudket had to follow the order of his Air Force Captain ...... ..... while Saralee has her day in defense ..... ..... and executing crosses at the net ...... Thais won comfortably in 2.
Next came the men's singles battles, and this predictably went to form. Tago was able to dismiss Tanongsak's challenge rather easily after Tanongsak blew chance after chance of finishing off game 1. Jorgensen had a slightly more difficult time, because he lost some focus in game 2. But no bother, he came back with a vengeance in the next game ...... Pics below: Tanongsak started with all guns blazing ...... ..... with good length when executing baseline clears ..... ..... and excellent coverage at the net ...... But like his match against Lee Dong Keun, he just couldn't finish properly .... Boonsak wouldn't have made the same mistake. So Tago took over .... ..... with his trademark dives ..... ..... and powerful smashes ...... ...... just look at that elevation. Tago levelled the score to 1 apiece. Jorgensen, meanwhile ..... .... was doing pretty well ...... ...... with his advanced Kungfu methods ...... [ .... and good finishing. But then Jorgensen lost speed ..... ..... and HHY took over. But he expended too much energy, that by the third game, HHY was a spent force. Denmark 2-0 up!!!!
I've fallen in love with your commentary, abedeng! Thank you very much! ...the pics are great, too! This one, along with the accompanying caption is my favourite:
Next up are the MD ties, Denmark expected to wrap this one for good and have an early dinner ..... Mogensen showed a no nonsense approach ..... ..... with Boe perfecting his block defence .... .... to give himself the opportunity to finish it off ...... Lee Sheng Mu tried to drive a wedge between the Danes ...... ..... so that they could have their own opportunities to the killl ...... ...... but TPE were always going to be in the back foot. ..... and thus, the tie was sealed - 3-0 for Denmark .......... As for Japan, victory in MD would give them the opening they need to win by the last match, where Japan had an overwhelming advantage. Should be a piece of cake, right? Since they had Professor Park as a head coach - one of the foremost MD mind in the world as a coach and player ....... But even a Professor could be proven wrong ..... that's why we're human. What he couldn't figure out, was the Thailand pair's style of play ...... The world takes notice of this pair ..... ...... with their peculiar squatting style ..... ...... creating havoc among Professor Park's men In a close first game, Nipitphon celebrates victory ..... Japanese pair look bemused ....... ..... as they continue to be harrassed by body missiles ..... ....... so players and coaches contemplate the writing on the wall ..... ...... and Maneepong and Nipitphon embrace in triumph! A 2-1 lead goes to the Thais ...... and time for the injured singles queen to try win it for them.
Former World Junior Champion Ratchanok Inthanon had to return to Malaysia from Bangkok to give Thailand a fighting chance against the Japanese. Still suffering from injury, Ratchanok was only able to play at her usual speed in the first game ..... ..... but boy, did that girl have a lot of guts ...... Her opponent was the more feminine and sexy looking Sayaka Takahashi, a player who had already beaten the Rat before in a close contest at the Asian Championships. Another close contest was in store ..... But first, let us feast ourselves to .... ..... the many poses of Sayaka Sato ..... Ok, now for the battle proper. From the start of the game ...... ...... Ratchanok was forced to run back and forth ...... ...... as Sayaka celebrates each and every point ...... But somehow, Ratchanok's greater power saved her from defeat in game one ..... Sayaka redoubled her efforts ..... .... even leaning to make a kill ...... ...... doing defensive blocks ..... .....it won her game two rather easily. Ratchanok : Coach, she showed her fist to me ..... Isn't that rude? The Japanese camp watched in concern ..... ...... while the Thais are more relaxed. Ayaka Takahashi : Sayaka!!! Its past your bedtime. Finish her off already!!!! But it was the Rat who celebrated victory ..... in pain. ..... and so she prostrated in thanks to the crowd ..... ..... and cried her heart out .... Thai teammates rush to her side ...... ...... and thank the crowd for all their support. Congrats Thailand!!!! History was made ......
Oh, Rat cried. :crying::crying: How moving, how joyous. She is THA's super heroine. Thank you abedeng. Thank you Thailand
Well, don't just stand there crying yourself, for Pete's sake! Get her a stretcher or hanky something!