Yes so sorry I also don't know what has happened to them. Seems like both have not been performing well. Don't know why the sudden dip in their form.
Tennis is played by richer countries. Europe, US. That is why even the most boring games like golf have a lot of money. In contrast Badminton is played by the poorer countries apart from a very few rich ones. Comparing the two is foolish.
It's not actually sudden dip. If you look at their performance from September 2015 to the end of 2015, they have only managed to reach one final, that is SSF final. Before WC 2015 final, the last major final they reached are actually back in April 2015, the Malaysia Open 2015. From September 2015 until the end of 2015, they only reached two semi finals. This year, they have yet to reach a single individual major semi final, which is not that different from last year. They are simply not consistent enough; their world ranking reflect it. Yet, somebody has already proclaimed they are the best pair simply because they are the reigning world champion It's a huge contrast compared with their performance back in the year of 2013 where they won five Superseries titles.
Actually badminton is played by more people in Europe then tennis. But the people who play tennis are not the same then the ones that play badminton. There is something like a class distinction at play here. Even more so with golf.
And still they are the favourites for Rio. The way they handle the big occasions they are the ones to beat. If they won't be upsetted in early rounds they win I fear as I would like lyd finally win the big one
I'm not sure that I would put Ahsan/Setiawan as favorite. In fact, in Men's Doubles discipline, there is no strong favorite in every major tournament played recently. Yes, LYD/YYS has been consistent and winning more titles than perhaps most other doubles. But they were also could be beaten because many matches were too close to be called. When I said "close", I did not actually mean the closeness of score. In some matches, even though the score suggests a close match, in reality one player/pair can simply up their pace or level when the situation requires. That is not really true in Men's Doubles; especially among the top ten players. They need to high level of concentration, physical stamina, physical fitness, calmness, and creativity during the match. It's more or less depend on-court performance during the day. Also, each pair does have their strength and weakness. For example, the Chinese pairs are known for their explosiveness. In contrast, in Men's Singles discipline, since French Open 2015, LCW has 100% winning rate over the rest of top 10 players. But he could still lose if he could not concentrate or feel well; Or, some other players are in extraordinary form during Rio Olympics.
Regardless, I definitely rank LYD/YYS as the one of the best Men's Double players that we witness in recent years. They deserve to be World NO 1.
You can't call this an upset. It is a match between 2 highly experienced but relatively slower pairs (well, compared to their younger compatriots and opponents, that is) in the circuit, both of whom had been top of the rankings before. It is also the reason why I would not be surprised if the Malaysians were to lose to the younger Indonesian pairs tomorrow or the day after if they cannot manage to slow the game down.
They need to be more that World No 1, they need to win an Olympic or World Championship Gold. One problem with this pair is that they fall flat when pace is drastically reduced. As in the Thomas Cup semifinal match .....
Here we go again. WC/OG is everything. Perhaps when they are better pair if they win gold in WC/OG but perform poorly in most SS/SSP?
It's called upset because Koo/Tan are no longer regarded as the top players recently. This is precisely what we call upset. They are former top players. On the other hand, Ahsan/Setiawan, despite their lackluster performance lately, are still the NO.2 pair in the world.
Just watched the match btw Wang zhenming vs Kwang hee heo. Such a tenacious defense and good counter attack - a great combo. Srikanth need to be careful to play such a player. Let's wait and watch tomorrow. Unfortunate, this match is not in the tv court.
I can truly relate to your sentiments and can't agree anymore on most of the points you made, but here abedeng isn't completely wrong LYD/YYS is undoubtedly one of the best pair we saw in any discipline in recent years and I am sure he isn't denying this fact either! He is just saying they do need the "higher" tourney medals to consolidate their status on the top of the tree further more! Also there's no denying about the superiority of the OG medal! Coz OG is Just OG
While I do respect the achievement of OG medal, I DO NOT think getting a OG medal would prove 'greatness'; it is really about a great honor for badminton player. One of the defining feature of sport is unpredictability; that is there is always randomness in every tournament you played. OG medal is much coveted by every player. But are you a better player if you get OG medal but doing poorly in SS/SSP? Certainly, in terms of overall performance, I certainly cannot agree that is the case. Better than World NO 1? That is weird logic. What I can say is that LYD/YYS have to work hard and prepare well to win OG medals. This means mental strength, physical strength, skill, tactics, etc. LYD/YYS should not think that they are favorite to win simply because they do well in the past. They should always be well-prepared.
Ahh I can't find any point which requires my "agree" stamp. Who on the earth said LYD/YYS aren't good and I never said doing well in SS/SSP consistently and gaining #1 title isn't high honors! They are by fav pair after all! Anyways let's just kill this topic here
Goh Can Win lost . She needs to grow taller, put on more weight and muscle, and get stronger. But she has many more years to grow into shape.
The thing with YYS and LYD is that they are so vastly superior against the rest - that it made very littlr sense that they failed to win the World title so far. Couldn't even manage the Asian Games title on home soil - though I suppose the Asiad is probably the 2nd most difficult title to win after the Olympics (both on 4 year cycles). In comparison, LCW does not have any significant advantage over his major opponents. There were always other players more superior either physically or mentally - first Taufik Hidayat up to 2006, then Lin Dan until 2013, followed by Chen Long up to now. I can understand why Steen Pedersen says that he still favours Lin Dan or Chen Long for the Olympic title.
Could LCW and LYD break the "Lee syndrome" curse in Rio? *Lee syndrome = choking in major important events resulting no titles thus far
