Surprised how easy Kento won, given their last 2 encounters were in 3 games, with Kento winning it. CL could not power through with his powerful smashes and Kento had better net play, unlike VA yesterday.
What a great performance from the players in the finals. Firstofall, Congratulations to all the winners today. They were outstanding. Kudos to organisers for conducting a great tournament and for handling the fire alarm situation well without any panic . For me stoodout performance in this tournament was from Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti . This pair was outstanding beating two of the top XD pair of China who were almost unbeatable. Usually i never watch XD and WD. But that win against top XD pair made me to watch their final match. Men's singles has huge gap in between the top guy and the rest. It seems impossible to beat him. It is boring nowadays. Nozomi played really well yesterday to beat the spanish beast but today she was overwhelmed by Tai in 2 straight games. WD has a considerable improvement from different countries . Now instead of japanese flag, we are able to see some other flag topping the podium. This time it is Korea. Korea really in full pace to overtake WD scene . MD as usual, it became one country affair, which really bores me. I am amused that Kevin/Gideon are almost unbeatable in normal tournaments but completely out of league in big events. This is really strange. Hoping for them to show their talent in big events as well.
Momota has now won 5 tournaments in a row, including world championships. Where did the trolls go that were saying a while ago Momota can't "even" win 2 tournaments back-to-back? Does Momota's achievement now mean that any player who does not win at least 5 tournaments in a row is a second class player
Jordan said: “We are very happy. This is our first title together after one and a half years of being a partnership and this boosts our confidence moving forward. “The strategy for the match was to fight to the end. We had good communication and teamwork and we relied on that in the third game. “It’s certainly not easy to defeat both the first and second-ranked team in the world at the same tournament but we employed the same strategy in both those matches and we are so happy to win.” Wang and Huang “We didn’t play that bad. We tried out best but they just played better than us,” said Wang.
We never know how much more Momota had in the tank today. He was just cruising on the first gear and that was more than enough to beat Chen Long. Momota had no need to increase tempo, just basic grinding game was enough. But I have to admit it was not best display from Chen Long.
personal summary: ws - nobody in the top 6 in unbeatable at the hands of the other 5. however, tty is too smooth for words. this was okuhara's best tournament outing this year. she didn't look gassed out in her 5th final of this year. she was merely outplayed. xd - can a 1 dimensional player win a wt 750? praveen jordan says yes! when you can't serve, can't return serve, make too-many-to-count unforced errors and rarely chase down a shot, who cares?!! a few deep power drives & a nonreturnable smash is all you need (oh wait, is that 2 dimensions?) when your partner (oktavianti!) masterfully controls the net. in the end an ugly win is still a win. wd - i said this back in 2017: watch out for korea's up and coming doubles players, wd, md & xd. don't be surprised by them surprising everybody and winning medals. md - minions excel when the hall is fast and the kevin is focused. playing against his idol hendra brings out the best in him. this result was inevitable. ms - during the initial two-thirds of game 1 i thought chen long was playing very good and had a chance to win. a slim chance, but still, a chance... then it turned to no chance when momota turned up the quality of his net shots and defense. the pressure on chen long to make a perfect shot resulted in many errors. a chen long with no offensive weapons has no chance against a perfectly oiled momota machine distributing a variety of unpredictable shots.
Praveen ending looks like the one in SEA games when they beat ChanGoh huh.. After watching the match, did it occur to you that Praveen is so much stronger than WYL in powersmash? it seems like he smashed many more times and can do so continuously. He made so many errors and contributed as he is freeze on that 11 point giveaway but if you can beat XD1&2, deserves the title.
He just might pull the trigger sooner, and that might be not that bad, he might be a decent coach of the future. And regarding Ahsan, well, Tontowi Ahmad is already his neighbor just across the street, might as well join together for a new partnership, fact that they are about the same age, and TA game seems compatible enough for him.
Dear Lord, if only Praveen has half of Markus Gideon hard work, focus, and dedication, he would be dominating left and right in XD discipline, for his physical talent is pretty overwhelming. Too bad for us Indonesian fans, that doesn't seem to be the case. He might have turned around, but my smart money says it is just a blip on the radar, another false hope.
I hope he can win a medal in TokyoOG. Its very rare INA has player like him of that physical specimen. Its not something that i would say , i thought WYL is more powerful than him but after the match. Even Gill commentate that he forgot there is someone more powerful than him at the other side of net.
THREE HOLDOVERS, TWO NEW CHAMPS SURPRISE WINNERS Mixed doubles final presenting the most entertaining showcase, what a fantastic week for Jordan/Oktavianti to beat world's best pairs in one tournament. Their victory over formidable Zheng/Huang had spurred extra motivation to beat another China strong combination, Wang/Huang. Overall, the Indonesians has better performance than their arch rivals who quite below par, weak defense, too defensive this time. An interesting turnaround arrived in deciding game when Indonesia pair managed hefty lead, 11-4 then 14-7, the Chinese did amazing comeback to take over the lead, 14-18, thanks to Jordan string of errors, luckily INA duo woke up and regain their focus to clinch gold medal. Praveen Jordan was scolded by coach about his indiscipline prior to Odense meet but he answers it with highest outcome here. Second astounding feat came subsequently in women's doubles, claiming opening set convincingly 21-9 and just three points away for Chen/Jia to grab fourth title in BWF World Tour this year but Jung KE/Baek HN thwarted them to top podium and prolong the match into rubber games. This tie had been disrupted by false alarm twice in deciding game where all spectators, players, officials were evacuated from the arena. The Koreans stole the momentum as the Chinese never turn back despite trying to close the gap but being futile at the end following unforced error at critical situation. Second DEN Open crown for Jung Kyung Eun after 2015 edition, partnered with Shin Seung Chan. THE UNSTOPPABLE NUMBER ONE Tai Tzu Ying is back on top, getting slow down post grabbed MAS & SGP Open title, current badminton queen defending her title successfully in Odense. Displaying master class skill combined with speed that troubling Okuhara who relying most on her superb defense, Tai was on her element to unleash unpredictable shots precisely several times, she's leading all the way in entire match, only small hiccup at the beginning of this clash when the resilient Japanese catching up the scoreline due to Tai TY uncharacteristic errors. Average is not enough to beat the near perfection Kento Momota, the Japanese hotshot continues his invincible mode, being unbeaten player in 26 matches since JPN Open 2019. Lack of creative shots and accuracy yet slow movement contributing Chen Long defeat to his powerful rival, the Olympic Champion couldn't do too much as the duel completed in just two games, 21-14 / 21-12, far from expectation to watch enthralling battle. Possibly the tough match against Viktor Axelsen more or less affected the Chinese hopeful performance in finale, failed to balance Momota agility. The Minions affirming their superiority over seniors Ahsan/Setiawan to score 9 consecutive victories, two quick games with their signature display, fast and furious speed that hampered World Champions to develop own style, shortest duration in final day, 21-14 / 21-13 with 28 minutes of play.
this result is quite good yes.....but don't forget this is fast hall with fast shuttles.... before PraMel does this again in slow hall with slow shuttle i would just take this result as an outlier or with a big grain of salt...
It's weird though that he always mentioned hendra last, I mean indonesian player usually would mention hendra's name first when being asked about their idol/favorite player, but kevin always mentioned LD and FHF first before hendra.