Obviously its better to lose to ChenLong. but it happens he cant past R1. Its okay, wont change the fact he is a legend. I believe badminton player like Lee never once think that ' Since i cant beat CL, might as well lose to Leverdez'
I've been away a couple of months, but I see nothing has changed. When the big names loose, they played bad and was injured. Fact is, that Brice played a hell of a match - but it's not the first time he did so. LCW played fine for large parts of the match. Especially when reeling in game 2... Tremendous experience watching this one. How can you not be excited for the tournament, instead of saying that it doesn't matter now? Looking forward to HKV vs THW now. HKV seems to be at the top of his game right now. It will be a close one I think. Cheers, FB
I dont know what my plan is from here... maybe I retire tomorrow. My brain is zero (blank) right now," said Lee Chong wei to media
I'm sure both THW and HKV are more than happy to play this match without LCW at the back of their minds.
Well, it just lost one of three best MS player ever. I suppose it will not be fun to see Kanta Tsuneyama v Wong Wing Ki instead of Chen Long v Lin Dan or any three combination.
WS though... With Tai choosing to compete in a school tournament instead of the WC... WTF!! That should not be allowed... Mens Singles must deliver the excitement. Cheers, FB
Plus post AE LCW has been consistently awful. Both Prannoy and Srikanth needed to summon reserves to beat Long. Esp Srikanth. While LCW lost like an amateur to HSP.
I think he should go for a hiatus for a while or just retire this year. It would not be fun seeing him play without any motivation.
Yeah, I saw the replay. When you are close to 35 years of age, playing "passive" or "defensive" is the only style that works throughout the tournament. Yes, you can play aggressive at specific times, but the overall tone should be a defensive style to conserve energy. LD today is the perfect example of winning with a defensive style. If LD has any chance of winning this tournament at all, he needs to conserve his energy where possible. Older players like LD and LCW need to win by skill and defense because they don't have the stamina like the younger players do. There is no way that LD can play like Srikanth - if you watch Srikanth, he smashes so much from the back court and plays so aggressive throughout the entire tournament. But LCW and LD cannot play Srikanth's style because they don't have that stamina and energy at their age. I would bet LD and LCW would make the WC finals in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013 because they were younger back then. But this is 2017 and the both of them are so old, lol. LD is still a top 5 favorite for this WC but I can easily see him being beat by a younger player if it happens.
I don't think so. If this one match that you just need to win, it doesn't matter how much energy you need to conserve. Desperate times calls for desperate measure. Lee Chong Wei failed to use proper shots and hit wide and hit net all the time. It is not the matter of stamina.
Then why is it that LCW won the Malaysia Open 2015 by playing an extremely (!) offensive game beating a lot of top players (VA, SWH + CL) on his way but suddenly lost this ability in the final of the WC against CL? He played tougher opponents at the Malaysia Open than at the WC! Must be a deliberate choice of wrong tactics, if you ask me.
LCW can be on offensive if he want but he didn't do that. It is his fault for applying the wrong tactic.
LCW was playing defensive for the beginning of the match. But of course, when the score is close and he can't pull away from Bryce, LCW will start to smash more. I will say by the end of the 3rd set, LCW didn't look as fast or sharp anymore. I'm pretty sure stamina took a toll on him by the end of the 3rd set.
It's all mental thing for LCW. Again, his press confenrence interview before the tournament says it all. He said that there are four chinese players in this tournament unlike Olympics where there are 2 per country. I don't understand why he has to look for certain country players always even if he don't need to worry about all the four players when he won't meet all in a tournament. And also, he have to take the tournament with the mentality of considering one match at a time. And also, he didn't talk about first 2 rounds at all. There are some players who are always ready to use the opportunity to beat you.
Last year at Malaysia Open he was pumping smash against everyone, JOJ, CL, SWH, VA. He pretty much decimated every opponent with fury of smashes. He didn't do the same this year. He just prefer to play long rally, which didn't work because of his common mistakes. You can count how many smash per match this year and how 90 percent of are all out. Yeah, his own tactic failed him this time.
After a see-saw battle of the deuces with Michelle Li in G2, Chen Xiaoxin won the match in two straight sets 21-13, 27-25. But, like Chen Yufei, she has her work cut out for her tomorrow against Intanon R.