Yes, there are no where near Lin Dan, VA or Carolina and I never claimed so. But why bash players just because they are not top players? Kidambi works hard and I see him changing tactics and doing his best to win. It's like bashing all players outside of top 10 for not being good enough. Do you expect every Indian player to be like Sindhu/Saina and be the best all the time? Such players are rare. Yesterday. Christie played well too and so let's give him credits too.
That was BAU. Busnan is such a hard worker, pity she isn’t as talented or gifted like some of the others. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
KS actually has the potential to be and that’s the frustrating part. You don’t see people blaming Ajay or Prannoy because they have reached their potential. KS is extremely skilled player who never got his head in the right space after 2017. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I understand the frustration and some criticisms but not the constant bashing. Maybe I am overreacting because I see this on Insta and Twitter too. But I think KS is working hard and doing his best. It's not paying off but he is working his best. Also remember that there is currently no foreign coach for MS. I am glad that PPBA has appointed Korean coach for Lakshya and other and it's showing but unfortunately KS doesn't have a proper foreign coach for months. And we can't expect him to win everytime against top players. Yesterday Christie was playing good and he is ranked above KS. Unlike Ginting, Christie is not out of form.
Jonathan Christie wins his first individual title since 2019, after beating H.S. Prannoy in straight-sets 21-12, 21-18. This is his first European title too! Congratulations to Jojo!
Christie managed to take advantage of the absence of top players and seal the title, and pretty good achievement for Prannoy after struggling with injury for a long time.
Nice one for Fajar/Rian. keep the composure to seal the G1. It's interesting seeing Rian being courageus run to the front of the net, and having a good battle at it.
Congratulations to Fajar Alfian/Mohd Rian Ardianto for winning their 2nd Swiss Open title (5th World Tour title), and a good confidence booster after their lack-lustre performance last year (despite a wonderful performance at the Thomas Cup Finals). They beat the in-form Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzudin in two tight-sets: 21-18, 21-19. I feel that they can yet be retained for the Thomas Cup & perhaps Asian Games 2022? But after this year, a split may be imminent. Team INA is the Overall Winner of the Swiss Open Super 300 with 2 titles! So, it's a successful European tourney in general, with the Men's Doubles sweeping 2 titles (out of 3), while the Men's Singles manages to win 1 title (out of 3). Yes, INA has benefitted from the withdrawals of many players this week. But well, they still need to turn up and win
Aaand it's a wrap for Fajar/Rian. Winning tittles will increase confident, hopefully. Congrats Fajar/Rian!
I think splitting partner will be quite a risky move for PBSI,,, especially if (perhaps big if?) Indonesia can perform well in this year's Thomas Cup and Asian Games. Unless the result of those two tournaments are catastrophic, I think PBSI will keep all of the pairs as it is for Paris Olympic 2024. Of course, myself as an Indonesian, will hope all the best results for INA this year. In addition, even if the splitting is happening, I'm not sure who's partnering with who?
The countries to watch out for Asian Games Team Event (one of INA's big target for this year): JPN (INA has to win 2 MS and maybe 1 MD) and IND (both MDs and at least 1 MS). CHN (all the singles are winnable if Shi Yu Qi is not playing, likewise for all the doubles) and MAS are dark-horses (need to win 2 MS and at least 1 MD). INA will likely have to play 2 of those teams if they want to win GOLD in the Team Event. For the Thomas Cup, DEN will be the biggest challenge but INA will be confident of winning 2 MDs and hopefully steal one MS through Jonathan Christie as usual. Anthony Sinisuka Ginting will be sacrificed in MS1, while Shesar Hiren Rhustavito will have a fighting chance against Hans Kristian Vittinghus. It will be wonderful if Team INA can retain the Thomas Cup!
Congrats to alfian/ardianto, but i feel they need to improve their flat game and defense as well. Several times they were overwhelmed by the fast flat game of goh/izzuddin.
The German pair Mark Lamsfuss/Isabel Lohau win the XD title after beating the MAS independent pair of Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Lai 12-21, 21-18, 21-17. At 15-14, the MAS pair missed an incredible chance to extend the lead to 16-14 after Goh Soon Huat smashed the bird to the net. The GER pair won another 5 pts in a row to make it 20-14. It also represents the GER pair's third World Tour title and second Swiss Open title! Congratulations to them!
With only a week before the next tourney starts in Korea Open Super 500, I think most of the INA players will fly direct to Seoul and train there to prepare for Korea Open and Korea Masters 2022. With the 2 main Japanese pairs (Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi and Akira Koga/Taichi Saito), the 2 BAM pairs (Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik and Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzudin), and the TPE pair (Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin - what happen to them???) absent from the tourney, its a chance for the Minions Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo to win their first title of 2022! Their paths to the Final is filled with either their younger compatriots or veteran KOR pairs, including those who had beaten them in the past 6 months: R32 vs Danny Bawa Christnanta/Andy Kwek Jun Liang R16 vs Kim Jae Hwan/Kim Young Hyuk or Lee Yong Dae/Kim Jae Hyeon QF vs Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol [8] or Mohd Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana or Pramudya Kusumawardhana/Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan SF vs Fajar Alfian/Mohd Rian Ardianto [4] or Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi or Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi [6] or Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin In the bottom half, Mohd Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan [2] will be fighting alone: R32 vs Ren Xiang Yu/Tan Qiang R16 vs He Ji Ting/Zhou Hao Dong or M.R. Arjun/Dhruv Kapila QF vs Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen [5] or Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang or Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan or Choi Solguy/Kim Won Ho SF vs likely Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty [3] Note though that the CHN pairs may or may not travel to Seoul because of pandemic related issues. So, if the CHN pairs withdraw en-masse, the bottom half will be practically empty.
Curiously, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting is seeded first in Korea. His path to the Final: R32 vs Lucas Claerbout R16 vs Sourabh Verma or P. Kashyap QF vs Lakshya Sen [6] or Lu Guang Zu or Sitthikom Thammasin or Shesar Hiren Rhustavito SF vs Loh Kean Yew [4] or Rasmus Gemke [7] or perhaps H.S. Prannoy again Jonathan Christie is seeded third and is in the bottom half of the draw. He will face: R32 vs Soong Joo Ven R16 vs Zhao Jun Peng or Kodai Naraoka QF vs likely Kunlavut Vitidsarn [8] SF vs likely Lee Zii Jia [2] or K. Srikanth [5] or Li Shifeng