Under-pressure Lee Chong Wei in All-England shock loss https://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/chinese-badminton-stars-winning-england-starts-152811791--spt.html By Richard Eaton | AFP News – 4 hours ago View Photo"I am sad to lose at a tournament like the All-England, but my aim is the Olympics," … View PhotoBadminton world number one Chen Long of China View PhotoChina's Lin Dan during a match at the China Open in Fuzhou Lee Chong Wei, the former world number who has been making a sensational comeback at the age of 33, suffered one of the biggest shocks of his career when he was dumped out in the first round of the All-England Open. Lee's stunining defeat, by 24-22, 22-20, was inflicted by B. Sai Praneeth, an Indian ranked at number 37 in the world, who looked to have little chance when he slipped to deficits of 3-11 and 6-15 in the first game. But once Lee made a few mistakes, Praneeth's hopes grew and his game showed itself capable of winning rallies of the highest standard. He was fast, sometimes brilliant in defence, and had nothing to lose when launching sudden flat attacks. "I can't believe I lost in the first round," said Lee, who has won the All-England title three times. "I prepared very well and I won four tournaments recently. "Maybe I have got a lot of pressure on myself to win this tournament. I made a lot of mistakes. Although I was also shocked at how well Praneeth played. "But it is all a learning process. I am sad to lose at a tournament like the All-England, but my aim is the Olympics." Lee had looked to have regained control with his clever tactical varieties when he advanced to lead 17-12 in the second game. He also had game points at 20-19 in both games, with the first being foiled by Praneeth's diving defence and later missing his chance to take the match to a third by narrowly putting a smash wide. Two rallies later, the 23-year-old from Andhra Pradesh took his first chance to win the match, making a sudden fast mid-court jab which forced Lee to block the shuttle long and caused Praneeth to hurl his racket away in joy. "It's a big shock for me too," Praneeth grinned. "After the last rally I couldn't believe it. For a long time I have been waiting for a big result. I've had close results against top players before. "It's a matter of confidence. This time, when I got the points I started to get the confidence." The shock result will reverberate for some time. "This defeat means a lot to Malaysia," said Hendrawan, the Malaysian national coach. "Everyone has been putting pressure on him to win the (Olympic) gold medal. But this defeat means he is human." The upset also appears to open up an inviting opportunity for Kenta Momota, the fourth-seeded Japanese player who won the Super Series finals in Dubai in December, to go all the way to the final, though he struggled to beat Christie Jonatan, an Indonesian qualifier, in three games. Earlier world number one Chen Long and Olympic champion Lin Dan gave China an encouraging start as each carefully overcame tricky hurdles to reach the second round. The two stars have seven All-England titles between them, and showed much of their experience in negotiating early difficulties with the cold conditions and winning in straight games against ambitious younger opponents. Chen won 21-18, 21-12 against Kent Nishikoro, a 21-year-old Japanese who led early on, and was still in touch in the middle part of the second game before a little extra pace and variety from the titleholder killed off his challenge. Lin won 21-17, 21-17 against Lee Dong Keun, a 25-year-old Korean who turned the match into a good scrap in many long rallies, but found his legendary opponent always playing better when it mattered. The top seed in the women’s singles, Carolina Marin, found herself in early difficulties. The world and All-England champion from Spain survived 25-23, 20-22, 21-15 against Bae Yeon Ju, the world number 15 from Korea, but had to save a game point in the first game and failed to convert two match points in the second.
Too difficult to digest that he lost because Sai Praneeth played better. LCW had fever. He is targetting Olympics. His match was last. Blah blah blah. He looked fully fit and was working hard to win the match and lost. IMHO we should have serious drug tests in Asian tournaments too.
So you're complaining people mention possible reasons/'excuses' why LCW lost and then you go ahead and imply he's doping? Wow. Seriously, what the hell.....nobody's saying Praneeth played bad and got gifted the match. But even the most diehard India fan has to admit such a significant delay plays into the hand of the younger competitor...and that day, that wasn't LCW. Oh, and btw, those routine urine test? Not worth the p**s in the cup. They won't show anything but the most obvious, stupid use of doping. Not even bodybuilders give positive urine tests on the day of competition - that should tell how valuable those tests are.
maybe it's good to lose here than OG, good to wake him up from the satisfaction of winning 4 tournaments in a row after the ban....
Why play against younger opponents if your game gets affected so much that you lose to rank 37 guy. Just retire. This has to be a genius argument. I wonder if LCW is 75. "That was not LCW". Really?! I thought he was playing very well. Every time he loses there will be a fanboy who will go around saying the same thing. That was not LCW. My foot. He is never LCW when he loses. Badminton is just very competitive. Praneeth had nothing to lose. He gave everything and came on top. All this `delayed match`, `fever` and `Olympics is the goal` is a narrative pushed by those apologists who cant digest the fact that it is just a sport and LCW is just another player. He will win some and lose some. Of course you cant say that Praneeth didnt play well. That would be overtly foolish. Giving silly reasons for LCWs defeat is more diplomatic and smarter. You arent fooling anyone though.
You can't say that, his statistics and h2h against other players clearly show that losing in the first round against a qualifier is an odd result for him. He - together with LD and CL - has been dominating so much the last years and saying that he is just another player is just ridiculous. You don't have to be a fan to notice that.
LD's match in German open the week before was last also for the first 2days. so stop making silly excuses for LCW, he lost. yes, it is a big shock to the world of badminton but he is a human and a human will win some, lose some. lets just focus on LCW's next match and i am sure he will only get better. this is actually a good lesson for him, then he'll know what to deal with from the very 1st round of every tournament. better lose now than in the olympics!
i watched again his match against Sai P..........seemed LCW made many unforced error, looking at his racket each time, maybe it's jetlag, maybe it's the racket..........LCW looked ribbed, like peaked trained for this event..........so the many error shots are perculia.
LCW's coach Hendrawan said "“Praneeth was brilliant today. He has nothing to lose and played extraordinarily,” “The first match of the tournament is always the toughest. Not all players can play to their true abilities right at the start of the competition. And that’s what happened to Chong Wei.”
Okay sincerely please I hope that everyone will give a break to this player. I have already stated the reasons why clearly but seems that people are still harping on past issues. Just give him a break. Whatever I say people will just say that I am giving excuses.even if I were to talk and say it is unfair for him to play the last match of the day people will say I am giving excuses again. So I beg everyone not to criticise Lee Chong Wei and kept ranting about his poor performance. Give him a chance. I am sure he will bounce back in the Swiss Open next week. Remember that I am not a Malaysian. But why am I saying all this? This is because I pity this poor player who will be targeted once he lost. Oh come on get real not all the players will win all the time. Sometimes they may lose too so just give him a break all of you please? Lets move on. And peace in this forum please to everyone. I don't want this thread to be closed down due to constant bickering and arguments about Lee Chong Wei performance. Peace and les just move forward. No use harping on past issues. Lee Chong Wei is also a human and he definitely deserves hiabown privacy.
Noone is criticising LCW. He is a great player. "But then All England is not his goal, its Olympics. It was the last match of the day. And he had a cold in 2015 too." Its these fellas who make your day.
You do drugs, don t you? When you continue to harp on doping, you re indirectly revealing the truth about yourself. Yes, AE organizers know that scheduling is one way they can help or disadvantage some players. They are famous for scheduling late night matches for some and have them play early the next morning. You can do some research and find the pattern is consistent over the years. But that s not the reason for LCW s loss. LCW lost because of his arrogance. He thought no one can touch him except two. It never occur to him that the most dangerous opponents are youngsters who are at the stage of rapid progress. Badminton is one sport where youngsters can polish their skills and weed out their weaknesses within a short time and turn up a different player from their previous match. So although LCW had a healthy lead, he displayed no urgency to close out both games. At the closing stage, the (hunter)player who s successfully catching up will grow more confident while the (hunted) player will get more nervous or tight. Confidence delivers perfection while nervousness creates errors. So you have a situation where the hunter gets better with each shot while the hunted gets worse. Everything happens so fast, there's no time or calmness to think about how to change tactics to stop the momentum. BSP played fantastic; he learnt from his previous encounter with LCW, he did his homework and prepared well and worked for his win. Most of all, BSP was most motivated to prove he can defeat LCW. Everything being equal, motivation makes the difference between winning or losing. Hence you see the A grade performance. His goal achieved, there s less motivation to perform the next round. BSP deserves his win and LCW deserves his loss. Kudos to BSPraneeth!!
I agree "All England is not his goal (that he won thrice already), his only focus is the Olympics.". and this is enough say. maybe he's giving out smoke to all his opponents...
Though BSP's victory is applauded, i won't diminish LCW @ any time. He is hero of Superseries. As his coach said, this first round exit is a warning bell to him. Nothing to carry away from BSP's victory. He played excellently well on that day. That's what matters. I think LCW will come up with some other strategy to tackle opponent of BSP's style of play. I just watched the match and most importantly , read the "comments" below. I was shocked to see most malaysian fans criticizing BSP for his celebrations. Who would not celebrate if he beat a player of LCW calibre? If he won't , he must be a himalayan saint sitting in a cave for years who controls emotions. People need to understand it. LCW lost not because of arrogance. He played well starting from the beginning.
It seems that LCW has withdraw from Swiss Open: http://www.thestar.com.my/sport/badminton/2016/03/11/chong-wei-will-miss-the-swiss-open/ [h=2]Chong Wei will miss the Swiss Open[/h] PETALING JAYA: World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei has pulled out of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold next week. The 33-year-old, who has been seeded first and slated to face Rasmus Fladberg of Denmark on Tuesday, has cited fitness problems for pulling out. He has won the tournament twice – in 2006 and 2009. “After discussion, we decided that it’s best for Chong Wei to skip the Swiss Open,” said coach Hendrawan. “Chong Wei was down with fever days before playing in the All-England and we noticed that he has yet to return to 100%. “We are not saying that Chong Wei lost early in All-England because of illness. A defeat is a defeat ... there’s no excuse.” Chong Wei suffered a shock 22-24, 20-22 first-round loss to India’s world No. 37 B. Sai Praneeth on Wednesday. Chong Wei is expected to return to action at the India Open Superseries in New Delhi from March 29-April 3.
