Umm...my apologies if you misread the emotion in my post to lurker. I wasn't really criticising him or his post. Blame the written language for its limitations, that is without facial expressions, vocalizations, and body language (emojis help but a bit of a hassle to use or look for them[just lazy] and they don't necessarily do the job well). Also I think you missed some of the criticisms I leveled at Lin Dan recently. Note that lurker actually 'liked' my reply, you know.
Or, to put it more cynically, those are the matches the fans care about I'd rather have them invest more into good officiating than a lot of hawkeye systems tbh. I think 2 hawkeye systems should be present, so that you can still run several courts on QF and SF days with most or all matches benefitting from hawkeye, but there needs to be better officiating even with it present, and I think spending money that would go to a 3rd-6th system on officials and their training instead would be more cost-effective and overall more beneficial (even with hawkeye, wrong calls and bad umpiring are tiring and annoying).
Regarding your question, yes, LD indeed made a promise when he signed up. He promised to compete to the best of his abilities. 'Sacrificing his leg' is also a bit melodramatic and over the top, imop - if he had really retired because of injury woes, he'd have picked a different time. Either in a break because he had time to think about it, or after a rally where it hurt particularly bad or made him feel like he might worsen the injury. It may certainly have attributed to his decision, and to his mood as well - making him more susceptible to anger over what he perceived as bad officiating - but I still dont believe for one second that it was the actual reason he stopped playing when he did. But it'll go over better with sponsors and prevent BWF from fining him unless they are ready to openly state that they dont believe him. Also would be hard to prove anything on their part, so I understand why there are no consequences from them - I'm not aware of them fining anyone else after retiring due to inury concerns, so I'd consider it unfair if he were to be treated differently due to his status. It is, however, quite noticeable that he is one of the players that retire the most because of some issue or another, and it's never anything big, provable (a torn ligament or sth). At least this time there is no suspicion of Chinese team shenanigans regarding the Olympic qualification
Haha well I am not for one defending him for being an ass. But it happened so often that I was surprised some didn't even know and get so disappointed over nothing. But serves the organizer right. Minions, TTY on court 4.
Again, to be precise, I repeat, Lin Dan didn't walk off the court, he retired after indicating to the umpire his so-called 'leg injury', and that's the official reason for it. VA also mentioned about it (though he was unconvinced by it, but that's another matter). There's one video where the interviewer asked about his match retirement and he mentioned about the fear of injury as he has just completed a full 5-round tournament last week and has to play the BAC the week following. And Lin Dan did exactly that, protesting the linecalls and criticising them but not to the tournament referee or after the match is over. That's why and how the badminton world is set aflame by it even though I thought it wasn't as dramatic as I originally imagined without seeing the video. By the way, he did once loudly complain about the the tournament draw having all the players of once nationality in the same half but the problem is still there until today. Obviously, from the context and literally speaking, my 'silence the critics for good' in the earlier post can only refer to Lin Dan continuing to play well henceforth as to silence his critics,certainly not me forbidding them to criticize him, who am I do so ? Lastly, I brought in McEnroe and the Williams sisters, no less celebrities, for a good reason - they got away with much more than what Lin Dan did at the SGP tourney, yet some anti-Lin Dan fans are jumping on him these two days over something much less dramatic. Anyway, I'm beginning to feel the whole incident is overblown at first and the rest of us were somehow baited to to get into heated exchanges. Enough said.
While I can understand a sentiment of giving some exposure to some less known players, I think they should indeed put some of the superstar matches on the TV court. LD vs Axelsen should've been on it, and that you don't see the WS or MD #1 there is pretty disappointing...
If I'm not wrong, the SGP Open this year is the first where the tournament organizer actually and purposely put so many (all?) big names, both singles and doubles, on Court 4 in the first two rounds. Who suffers ? The millions of fans watching back home on TV and livestreams. How does that serve the sponsors as well ?
If it were for SGP players I would say much less. None of the WR1 was on court 1 today. Only Fuku/Hiro as the WR1 to be on court 2. Not only disappointing. It was outrageous! It's first come first serve basis! Oh Momota just got his share of Court 1. Lucky him.
If I recall, the reason that LD vs VA match was put in Ct. 4 was that court is just happened to be empty. But, really, the organizers can just alter the match queue a bit and ensure the big match to be put on TV court if possible. I am waiting for the organizers to say that it just so happens that all of the matches involving the big stars are placed in Ct. 4.
Sorry I'm not sure if you saw exactly what happened. Because I was there live and what I saw was Lin Dan ending the match in a huff by suddenly reaching out to shake the umpires hand after a "supposed" bad line call. There was no signs of any injury and the tournament doctor wasn't called onto court at all. The match ending abruptly catching everyone off guard is what made fans furious.
this video perfectly shows the situation then.. not sure if Lin Dan's "leg injury" would have occurred had that last point been his..
Well, as your video showed, Lin Dan didn't walk off in a huff and leave the match in limbo, he was unhappy with the linecall, which is the last straw that broke the camel's back, then walked over to the umpire to shake his hand and indicating he's retiring citing leg injury. After that , he also went over to shake Viktor's hands and the service judge's before walking away. As to whether there's any signs of injury, it's not for you to say and since he's conceding the match, there's no need for the tournament doctor. Bear in mind, he's 35 already and just came over from the MAS Open where he played in all five rounds, four of which were three-setters; so it's understandable if he just wanted to play it safe. Mind you, he's not the first or only person to retire a match on grounds of injury. Remember, there's a precedent, more than one, but I'll just mention Nozomi Okuhara's case where she went on court to play just one point and retired. Who were furious (and was there any signs of injury) ? Nobody, even if there were some murmurs, it was quickly forgotten and we have all moved on. No big deal.
i'm sure ld would've withdrawn before the tournament started if it weren't for bwf's asinine rule for top committed players. cba is liable for the $5,000 fine, not lin dan... so my guess is cba told him to play. it seems an athlete's decision to play, and a federations requirement to make an athlete play, belongs to bwf. the negative side effects of bwf's rule trickles down to everybody: the federations, athletes, fans, organizers and sponsors.
I can see those who paid tickets are 'upset' for LD's WO or injury whatever. I would too if I paid to see this match. If I knew Super Smart Dan is going to play his true form to 'compete to the best of his abilities' at MO, dang! I would fly home than go home this coming September. If it is not that LD has to participate in SO or pay fines if he doesn't, he wouldn't be there. Compare LD play at SO to MO, it seems like LD is praying 'please get me out of here', and next comes BAC and another, consecutively...this is crazy for a 35-year old. If LD really 'competes to play to the best of his abilities' to satisfy some armchair forumers, he should be call Super Dumb Dan with IQ of a carrot...luckily he is not.
So now we've moved the goal posts again, huh? Now it's actually injury that made him retire, yeah sure When it comes to LD, apparently you're as irrational as it gets. Hope he goes on another year of tanking and losing to WR#100 so you get back some sense and can be talked to in a normal fashion.
Are you mentally handicapped? He is taking someone's spot by competing. He should play his best or not play at all. That's part of competitive integrity. But I'm sure that's a foreign concept to you. Also, BAC is not mandatory, so if he competes there, it is entirely voluntary on his part. Throwing at the So to play the BAC would be entirely his decision, BWF does not enforce participation in continental championships. BTW, his entire income is based on appealing to fans, if he can't please them, he has nothing. If Yonex isn't the dumbest company in the world, they'll have the option to cancel the contract if he stops promoting. He could eventually transition into coaching, but besides him expressing distaste for that multiple times, the income would also not support his lavish life style.
There are more choices for him to retain his income. It doesn't always have to be coaching. Going into business is one option. Many athletes have started to do it while they are still active. He's not stupid, he sure will find ways to "please" both fans and boss and also his bank accounts.
Yes, when you're rich enough, it gets hard to fail I also don't think he will forever be dependant on being popular, but as of right now, all his income streams are largely based on popularity. And repeatedly pulling sh*t like this would certainly not increase it
Well..honestly even with his worst slump and **** he had repeatedly pulling all these years. I'd say he would survive quite long with his popularity. The only "bad" things he had done that caused a lot of damage to his populairty were probably more in personal life such as compromising pictures of partying, affairs etc. I can feel that those who dislike him are more the older generation with their more conservative thinking, younger generations don't care much about this stuff I'm afraid. The juicier the better.
