Playing 'smart' Badminton . Currently, I would say that many CHN players are under instructions; To perform, or not to perform. BCers who are familiar with China's methods would understand. Others who don't, they would be puzzled like anything. .
I find you to be the nearest bird of a feather with me in terms of p.o.v. Definitely, for those big time matches (especially of National honors and to lesser extent, personal pride) his fellow competitors would find him difficult if not impossible to get pass. To be more specific, my previous statement "his fire diminishing unless provoked" was referring to individual events that he could forsake. The just concluded MO and KO are my examples. To bring out the best of his charges one needs to be more that just a coach. Your perception of "The Thing" definitely stands out from the rest.
I believe the smartest player I have observed is Sun Jun,he is short and small but can play many variations.(guess who his coach was?) He can be a great retriever when he wants to eg. in 1999 Sudiman vs Gade, can be even better than LD eg. in 1998 GP vs Gade and 1998 AE with Ong Ewe Hock, you simply dont know what he is up to. But he stumbled in 1997 World Championships and learned quickly. But because of injury he was unable to bring out his best against Hendrawan in 2000 Olympics. Hendrawan I think is another crafty player who excelled when nearing 30. There must be countless examples but the next nearest I can think of are Hartono ,Zhao Jian Hua and Taufik at peak (Cant think of any recent ones).
Agreed! Sun Jun was exceptional. In his own way, so was Zhou JianHua, but he made it all look so easy it was hard to appreciate the mind and craft and flawless execution.
If LM, Hendrawan, etc are in demand, Tang would be a prized catch. But Tang is 70+ and for what he has contributed to CHN badminton success, I am sure he is well taken care of for the remaining part of his life and he doesn't need to move to another country for the almighty dollar, doing so would brand him a traitor. A person at that age, money may not be the most important thing, to be respected, to bring glory to CHN badminton may be his last goal and to be remembered as the father of CHN badminton...and most importantly, to be the coach of the most successful badminton player
This must be the statement of all statements that answers all questions and summarises what the pages and pages of discussions were all about.
That's the product and observation of many years of living with badminton. In other words for OLY12, MAS needs LCW and CHN needs LD and DEN needs PG. Not too sure of TH (is SS a worthy successor), either one is ok.
