India too has broken new ground with PV Sindhu's bronze medallist achievement in WS, where her more illustrious teammate Saina Nehwal had failed. Though I must say her playing curriculum needs more depth - she is good against power players (Chinese especially) but is found wanting against technically adept and quick moving opposition who use deception more than power. But hey, Sindhu has a lot of time ...... could be a version of India's Tine Baun.
YES!!! INA finally won 2 Gold Medals yet again after 6 long barren years! The XD Final was definitely the more nail biting one, esp the last 10 pts or so. Owi/Butet totally dominated the first-set and the first-half of the second-set. However, that one long rally before the interval of the second-set changed the momentum of the game (rightly called by Gill Clark). Right after the interval, the CHN pair changed their strategy and won the second-set quite comfortably, with the INA pair in disarray winning only 5 more pts. The decider set was a tight-one, with the CHN mostly leading right till the end at 20-18. At this time, the CHN pair thought they had won it with Xu Chen prematurely celebrating. I sensed that the game was still not over at that time and slowly but surely, the INA pair regained their momentum. Once it was deuce, the momentum shifted to the INA pair and a long return by Xu Chen ended the match, with Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir collapsing to the ground before running to Richard Mainaky & Nova Widianto to celebrate their huge win! It was also the first time they beat Xu/Ma and Zhang/Zhao in one tourney! Credit has to go to Tontowi Ahmad for staying calm esp in the last 4 pts and not committing the silly errors he usually did when he's nervous. Liliyana Natsir was also excellent throughout the match and she's indeed the best women and mixed doubles player INA ever had, winning 3 World Championships titles and 2 AE titles with different partners! Their target will have to be reaching WR1 and winning at least a few more SS (and SS Finals) and the Asian Games Gold Medal in 2014. As for the MD match, I agree with the assessment that it was more like an anti-climax. Mohd Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan were in complete control for the entire match (except maybe for the last bit of the match when the DEN pair managed to go 20-18). Nevertheless, the INA pair confirmed their dominance of MD over the last few months with their first major title and 4th titles this year alone. Now, the target has to be to win the elusive AE title and retaining the Asian Games Gold Medal in 2014.
Um, not quite. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was at 16-19 when the medical time-out occurred and there was that whole drama with the spraying of the legs and LCW looking mighty pitiful. Then the match was resumed, LCW won the next point, there was more of the hobbling bit, Lin Dan won the next point to make it 20-17, and then only did the drama come to an end with the final time-out. To show that I can do something else besides just beetch and moan, I will say that this has been a fantastic championships aside from a few match outcomes. Ratchanok winning, Marin putting Spain in the badminton spotlight, and the variety of countries that won golds are all wonderful things. Denmark winning the MD would have been even better for the sport for it would have ensured European representation in the gold medal tally.
I'm ganna come out and say it. This is the absolute worst game I've seen LD and LCW played since I start watching badminton, game 2 in particular is a joke, I could've sworn I fell asleep halfway through it. Mistakes everywhere, lack of passion in game 2 was especially painful to watch. Then again, I was spoiled by those 2 since 2009 Sudirman-cup showdown... Their matches have always been such joy to watch. LCW got heart, but as I feared, his schedule have really took it's toll on his body. LD is without a doubt, the greatest player to ever play badminton (Though he don't play like he deserve such title this finals) I'm dissapointed, but... Those 2, while playing a disappointing game, they're still easily 2 of the best today, and undoubtedly have produce a great show. (Long as we're not comparing it to their previous few encounter) World Championship 2011 remained as the greatest game the 2 ever played. Few errors Passion through the roof Extremely dramatic game story
In actual fact, China WS team has lost to a Chinese coach in this championship tournament. RI's coach is a former training partner to LYB/TBY. His name is Xie Zhi Hua, who has been coaching RI since 2003. See below link (in chinese): http://sports.sina.com.cn/o/2013-08-11/18046718558.shtml There is no doubt about RI's talent of course.
Oh, not forget to mention RI's younger brother, who is another arising star in MS (mentioned in the link).
WC 2011 and London 2012...both in the same arena I think..correct me if I am wrong...both superb display of badminton
It definitely wasn't their best game. But I think that says more for how good their previous matches have been.
Today's match between LCW and LD is rather boring, lobs and clears. I guess it's the way 30 year olds play badminton.
Um, just a correction… actually they once did it -- beating Xu/Ma and Zhang Zhao in one tourney -- at Singapore Open SS 2011.
That's it .... these 2 have to go and retire ..... wakakakaka. We don't want to go to sleep during the Rio Olympic MS Final .......
2003 is correct. XZH got to know RI when she was 5 years old while RI's parents were working in his badminton school, and started coaching RI from 2003. RI's younger brother (8 yrs old) is also coached by XZH and has already won the national title in his age group.
Not only I'm sad because LCW lost it. I also think the mixed title should have been given to Xu/Ma, since they've fought back so well and won more of the longer rallys. And also worth to note: The indonesian had a lot of lucky netshots which fell right down after the white tape.
Right, shouldn't blame LXR. After seeing how she fought to quality for the Olympics last year and eventually won it. No disgrace but congrats to RI.
