But somehow, it's good to see LXR still able to play at this level, considering her limitations. I have no doubts she'd still be unbeatable in WS had she not had her injury. I believe she will improve further over this year.
CBA wouldn't be so kind to her and there's only two OG spots, none of her younger teammates will give her any quarters. Better to face reality, unless and until she improves on her stamina and endurance, I have to discount her chances. Professional sports is not about compassion, every player will put their interests and career first over their fellow compatriots. Much as I used to admire and idolize LXR, that's all in the past and it's part of my fond memories of her. Though I still feel for her, I loathe to see her humiliated or lose not on skills but for lack of physicality. Her situation is far from Lin Dan's who has already won everything on offer, twice over in fact, and can afford to indulge himself by persisting in carrying on despite all the odds, a luxury he is entitled to and can well afford. But not LXR, no such privilege and honour simply because her best achievements are not that stellar as to even count her as one of the greats. That's just my opinion, nothing against her at all.
In the first set, it was not so bad, XR was using more forehand hitting at the backhand side which I think she has been working on. In the past, would have been 50% backhand. In the second set, fatigue set in and she started to use alot of backhand and making huge amount of unforced errors. Is it really just due to stamina or is the injured leg has a limited usage that limited her workload in training as well?
I know but come on, she won fair and square against her junior. And she had the right to be here even though she lost it. Just let her take her time to recover. She is still in the way making her progress up.
Yeah but she wasn't that fatigued then, that's the point I'm trying to make. LXR has the technical skills but just not the physicality to go deep in the tournament. Anyway, if I'm not wrong, was it CXX or some other youngsters who beat LXR in the CBSL; even Han Yue has beaten her in WTS events not long ago. Don't forget, CXX beat none other than Intanon Ratchanok in R1, so with her better fitness level, I'm sure she will do better than LXR today against NO,a fighting chance I'd say. As Xia Xuanze has made clear, LXR must work on her running ability, her court coverage if she is not to be severely limited by it in taking on the top rung opponents. Honestly, I truly wish to see LXR make a great comeback.
Not that stellar... Any Olympic medal is a strong achievement for any athlete. Let alone a gold one in LXR’s case. She beat her junior previously therefore earned her spot and chance to play this quarter final of a super 1000 tournament. Could you explain where is the privilege here? And who is it to judge she can’t persist like LD does or to judge if her achievements allow her to carry on or not? She lost though but she still did better than some of her juniors and NO is not an easy player to beat especially physically. Still a good match for LXR since her injury I’m sure. One thing I agree with you though is that she won’t get back to her previous level that’s pretty obvious. Her injury was too deep, especially mentally but still... she has gotten all the right to be there, keep trying and enjoy playing a 1/4 final of an AE.
Even Morten Frost, who many on this forum seem to think is always right, commented today that Momota only puts in minimum effort what is necessary to win. He mentioned that for example Lee Chong Wei starts playing at his best level from start of match but Momota is an exception. I don't think he will lose semi-final tomorrow but when playing either Shi Yuqi or Axelsen in the final he needs to play more seriously than today.
Wow Praveen/Melati made it to the SF. Well done. But they will face Zheng/Huang tomorrow.. good luck to them
Another great win by babyguchi Very good tactical plan in this match, pushing in the deep forehand corner time and time again, moving away HBJ from the net. Can't wait for TTY clash. Not too bad from Nozomi as well, but really still not quite back up there though, missing almost all of her trademark shots, lots of unforced errors too... either a lack of self belief, or perhaps she is scared to get her knee and/or shoulder injured again after managing to spend 2018 injury-free... Won't be enough against the top players that's for sure. Hopefully she can get it together for tomorrow's match. Otherwise this is gonna be a straight repeat of last week defeat to Ratchanok.
Country representatives in SF 8 - JPN 4 - CHN 3 - INA 2 - MAS 1 - HKG, TPE, DEN Japan was showered with fortune yesterday as almost the players in QF go to SF. Out of 9 reps, only Kanta fails to advance. Japan has a chance to create 2 all JPN finals through WS and WD. However, it is hard in WS as TTY is still in contention. The other WS semifinalist is CYF, which makes WS the most ideal one as top 4 seeded WS players are all in SF. MAS MD pair, Chia/Soh, have shown improvement and perform greatly to beat Liu/Zhang, who beat minions in R1. No more CHN MD in SF. Next, they will face Fajar/Rian, who are also improving a lot. It is interesting to see 2 young, promising, and fast-improving pairs battle each others. From MD section, it is proven that INA MD is the strongest one atm. No minions? No problem! INA MD still has Fajar/Rian and Ahsan/Hendra. If they win their respective matches, all INA MD final will be happened. The last all INA MD final in AE was happened 18 years ago where Tony/Halim won over Candra/Sigit. In XD, Praveen/Melati and Goh/Lai surpass everyone's expectation by beating the top XD pairs. It is nice to see Praveen/Melati advance to SF. INA XD is not over yet even after Butet's retirement. INA XD needs to last longer in the next tournaments like this. Their opponent will be the invincible CHN pair, Zheng/Huang. From H2H, it is shown that Praveen is allergic to ZSW as he lost 9 times to the young and talented CHN man. Hope Praveen/Melati can play with nothing to lose.
MAS shows improvements as got 2 representatives (md & xd) in semifinal, compared to last year that only reached QF and ended the campaign...
Yeah, it looks like MAS players have improved since WCH becomes the technical director. There are plenty of young and promising MAS players. In this AE, it is Chia/Soh that continue to shine. Both Chia/Soh and Goh/Lai meet tough opponents today.
I still can't believe it, minions out in the first round and Indonesia still have 2 MD in the semifinal. just fantastic.
I agree...LXR is a player of a legendary class and she has the best achievements that many player dream of...and all those who talk about how She aint in her form and bla bla...Well guess what..even if she doesnt get back in her firey form she has more than enough to be counted as the best in the world. She is and will be remembered as a legend and MINDING ALL THOSE DOUBTERS...She has risen from fall and to come back and still play and giving hard fight to these younger girls is not a fluke. Also to the fans of "SO CALLED NO.1s" who may be a show off No.1s but when it comes down to REAL DEAL i.e ( TWO BIGGEST tourneys in the word ) WC and OLY well guess what..Your No.1s dnt even have a bronze let alone the GOLD. So all questionin the Legendary LXR..plz Get a break and I would love to see how your stars play when they reach the age of LXR and how many WC Medals and OLY Medals they get. LXR - "OLY - GOLD, WC - 2 SILVERS" all three Consecutive.over 27 Tittles with recent one as recent as last year and Well Deserving and Real World No.1 Rankin for over 120 Weeks. So Only Question LXR if your star has more than all the above.
That shows how strong INA MD is. Many Indonesia fans think that no minions, no title for INA. But, I strongly believe that they are wrong. Ahsan/Hendra or Fajar/Rian will prove themselves to everyone. I recall that Herry IP wants INA MD to be like JPN WD. Well, this is possible. The race to OG will be interesting for sure.
SEMIFINAL (10.00am & 05.00pm) => https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/...5C09CF-D0E7-47DB-A774-8634B0CC5E7B&d=20190309 THE UNDERDOG SNEAKS IN Ng Ka Long creates a breakthrough of his badminton career, entering the prestigious All England semifinal for the first time, beat two Indonesian men en route to historic run here, Anthony Ginting at first round and Tommy Sugiarto yesterday in three games battle. The persistent Ng had sluggish start, outplayed by Sugiarto before he turned to deliver real threat to down the 30 years old Indonesian. A mammoth task to progress for this Hong Kong player as heavy favourite Kento Momota awaits him today, the crafty World Champion in cruise control mode to outplay Indian representative Srikanth Kidambi, 21-12 / 21-16. A blockbuster duel as expected will pit China frontman Shi Yuqi against Danish protagonist, former World Champion Viktor Axelsen who trounces Jan O Jorgensen while Shi outclasses Kanta Tsuneyama in last eight. Axelsen won over Shi in their last meeting, INA Open Super 1000 semifinal, July 2018. TOP FOUR SUCCEED Tai Tzu Ying maintains her fine form to score all victories convincingly including tackled Saina Nehwal in quarters despite the Indian presented stiff resistance in second game, the down to earth Taiwanese prevails at at end, 21-15 / 21-19. Tai possibly will get sternest test to defend her crown today, Akane Yamaguchi who often troubling the world number one according to statistics. The good runner yet retriever Akane Yamaguchi as predicted beat He Bingjiao once again, the Chinese left-hander did the best she can against her junior peer but it was not enough, she's practically out of touch after interval of deciding game, her court coverage and accuracy waned then succumbed easily to well-determined Yamaguchi, 16-21 / 21-19 / 12-21. China last WS standing, Chen Yufei will face another Japanese contender Nozomi Okuhara who eliminates 2012 Olympic Champion Li Xuerui directly, 21-17 / 21-14. ALL INDONESIAN FINALS? Having biggest shock at opening day when the Minions ousted, Indonesia men's doubles camp still exist until semifinal round. Two-time World Champion Ahsan/Setiawan destroy German pair Lamsfuss/Seidel in lop-sided match, 21-12 / 21-13. Alfian/Ardianto continue their journey in Birmingham to beat Rio Olympic silver medalists Goh VS/Tan WK. The Malaysians wasted their hefty lead to seal first set, 11-5 to lost narrowly 20-22 then contrast circumstances happened in second game that ended 11-21 for Indonesia youngsters. Later on in second session, the debutants Aaron Chia/Soh WY fly high to stun the experienced Liu C/Zhang N in three games and will take on Alfian/Ardianto for a place in final. Japan's Kamura/Sonoda also beat Chinese hurdles to secure semis spot, Han CK/Zhou HD and set up a clash with Ahsan/Setiawan. CHEN/JIA AGAINST ALL ODDS 2017 World Champions, the promising talents at the beginning of their career then experience uninspiring performance constantly post Asian Games 2018, Chen QC/Jia YF regain their confidence to try fix poor form, making All England semifinal appearance, defeating Indonesian nemesis Polii/Rahayu in close contest, 21-19 / 21-17. Three Japanese pairs barricade the Chinese, Fukushima/Hirota and either Tanaka/Yonemoto or World Champion Matsumoto/Nagahara at grand final. Exactly same with last year case, it would be a major upset if the Japanese slips to lock WD title this time and it all depends on the Chinese duo magic spell to defy the odds. MALAYSIANS STING Goh SH/Shevon Lai proves their capability to trouble higher-ranked opponent, world number two Wang YL/Huang DP who showed off-colour and monotonous style against more creative Malaysian pair, 13-21 / 22-20 / 21-18. Shevon Lai played exceptionally well, much better than the lousy Huang Dongping at front area. Goh/Lai will up against title-holder Watanabe/Higashino who edged out Ahmad/Kandow, 24-22 / 21-19. The hot favourite Zheng/Huang have a comfortable winning over home challengers, Adcock/Adcock and will face the unseeded Indonesian combination Jordan/Oktavianti who dismiss Thailand aces Puavaranukroh Taerattanachai. LIVE TV COVERAGE
