Again? What about this: DPY should have beaten LCW if not because he played all his previous rounds with 3 games and played totally 4 hr 45 mins vs LCW's 2 hr 50 mins. endurance? Fewer games and 2 hrs less on court on the previous 4 days. I wonder if that means anything to you...
Hmm.. lets again ignore the troll that ruined many sweet victories today. Congratulation for all winners and for the silver medalist. Both achievements are none of us here can even near to it.
I'm not saying he did it to save face; I don't pretend to know why he did it. If LCW really did get injured seriously enough to the point that he couldn't continue even if it was for one more rally, then by all means go ahead and retire; I have no issue with that. I just wonder if he is injured, or at least injured badly enough that he couldn't play that one last rally. IMO, I have a right to be suspicious because this is not the first time that LCW has done this at a major event. I would feel the same way about any other player if he got embroiled in similar situations. As for saving face, I for one think that LCW has good reasons for doing so; just one of them is that he can now say that he lost because he got injured. It may have reached a point where he felt that he couldn't beat Lin Dan, and he jumped at that good excuse to fall back on. I'll bet all those scenes of the Malaysian hero being unfortunately struck down won't do his public image any harm either. I just read that post by eaglehelang: If what he/she says really does hold water, then LCW has my sympathies and I wish him a speedy recovery.
Ah, interesting topic. Did you notice none of home WS players met each others in this tournament? And then... See the final result???
I think out of all the finals I was actually most excited for that one and it lived up to it. It's so good to see so many young players bringing a whole new game. Good signs. There were a couple of years I just about lost interest in international badminton, but it's drawing me in again!
I'm a bit out of the loop, but does it look like Lin Dan will carry on playing for a couple more years?
Yes, they did it Towi/Liliyana have shown mental strength in the verge of losing but they never gave up and grabbed 4 consecutive points, superb! That wild card really brings nightmare for Lee CW. Sad ending indeed for MAS fans, more dramatic this time with LCW injury. Well, 5th WC title for Super Dan, this record is very hard to break... China only won 2 titles of 4 finals, the most shocking outcome is definitely the Olympic Champ Li XR succumbed to Thai young sensation Ratchanok Intanon, first gold medal for Thailand in WC history, what an achievement, congrats Yeah, many young talents are chasing CHN now which is good for badminton development. We'll see next year, Copenhagen 2014
Conditions in the final, anlaysis Congratulations to both LCW and LD for making it through to yet another dream final. However.. Turning the air conditioning off: I find it very strange that they turned off the Air Conditioning in the middle of the final. They have used the air conditioning the whole week, and players have been able to adapt to the conditions and drift caused, allowing them to judge shots, knowing which are too long and which to keep in play. The only reason i can see for turning off the AC would be if there are any clear urgent indicators that it's upsetting the game, 1) making the arena "too cold". A very clear indicator this wasn't the case is that both players were perspireing heavily and LCW cramping in the end. 2) affecting the shuttle path too much. If this would have been the case, they've had a whole week to fix it and calibrate the AC, and also a whole day of finals. the worst timing is to change it in the middle of the game. If the conditions are too bad in other sports, the game is either delayed for changes to be made (roof in tennis when rain) or the game is postponed. Since the air conditioning was turned off: Since the air conditioning was turned off at the second game, this affects the drift and without any information of this, being so focused on the ongoing game, the players will most likely trust their intuition - thinking there's a drift - causing some "poor" judgements. It's interesting LCW left so many shuttles in the second game, as if his intuition was saying "there's drift, this shuttle will go long", whereas Lin dan seemed to have adapted to the drift, hitting shots that normally would go long. Both players should have recieved information that the air conditioning was turned off. Conclusion: whether the winner would have been different without changes to the AC can't be told, we didn't get that chance. But i would say it clearly affected the final, and maybe even the final result. The important question is the answers as to Why was the air conditioning turned off, what was so urgent that it had to be turned off in the middle of the game? Why did not the players recieve information about this change? What do you all think?
I'm sorry for LCW but he still provided us the best MS match today till he suffered injury towards the end of the rubber. Indeed he was a worthy opponent to LD. I guess the pressure to put MAS back on the world badminton superpower map is too much for him alone. This mental torture has been playing in his mind for some time as all Malaysians look up to him to provide greater success. Furthermore, to have to meet LD once again unexpectedly after his wild card, builds up more pressure on himself as LD is not expected to be able to regain fitness and form in such a relatively short time. But LD has proven many people wrong, including his younger teammate CL, whom he defeated comprehensively. Indeed these two superstars are destined to meet again at this WC. In previous encounters, LD came out on top. His mental strength seemed more superior. It is no different here as LD once again demonstrated this remarkable trait even when he was down in the first game. The third and final game was too much a burden for LCW. Although he seemed to be matching LD stride for stride, point for point, LCW again succumbed to his psychological nightmare. His mental torture had to explode, the lactic acid that had been building up in his body, especially in his legs, completely took over and paralyze him. He couldn't overcome his cramps and continue the fight...
