Just watched the match (I was playing this morning so I couldn't see it live) and wanted to highlight how CTC is just a pure beast in term of physical strength. He is working hard for it and it paid today. His last 4 matches have been decided by a third set! That's 12 sets in 4 days. It's almost like doing 2 extra matches compared to a player who won everything in two straight sets. He must be exhausted right now and I wonder how will he be able to play the next tournament at his full potential. He looked exhausted at the end of the final.
Here is my report from Istora. I am not sure if I can deliver good though. WD - Classic battle between the four JPN girls. I feel like Yuki is the best out of four. I quit from the stadium when TakaMatsu is on the lead in G2 because I had something to do. But, when I was about to go back, FukuHiro already turned the table and subsequently won the match. WS - AY really deserved the title. Her attacking game worked. Nice revenge from AY after having lost 4 consecutive matches against PVS before. And, AY, being AY, doesn't celebrate at all after the match is over. XD - Totally missed the match. I was out of the stadium to look for surroundings. I noticed some group of peoples waiting for the WS players. After the media session for PVS, AY is next. I happen to witness these two girls. AY and PJB were entered to the interview room. After some time, they left the room. I was rushing to the site where the peoples may see AY again. After waiting again, AY, PJB, and her NT coach were showing up. The coaches were about to leave the stadium. AY was heading to the room where she changed back to her normal outfit. She did wave to the peoples there. After everything is done, I went to check the score. Everything is over as Zheng/Huang won the title really quick. MS - I didn't watch the full battle of it. When I did watch the match, the battle is intense. They give their all. It seems to me that AA held the control for considerable time. He really can trouble CTC. In G3, I was eating. After that, I watched the rest of the match from big screen. It was such a great match. CTC and her coach were really emotional with CTC's victory. After the match is over, CTC fell down, followed by AA. For a moment, I thought of them like a brother to each other. Nice gesture from them as they exchanged the shirt. A bit of funny moment because CTC has to wear the shirt again for the interview. He ended up wear his countryman's shirt. MD - This match is treated as special. Instead of introducing the players one by one, they all got introduced at once. The crowds really cheer for them, more so than the other players. The match is fast pace as usual, both pairs show good play. However, the daddies made a lot of errors (including the service errors), this cost them the match. Minions are as fast as ever. I did thought that it is nice to have them stand on podium together with their kids. Man, I am so happy that this moment really happens. Hendra with 3 kids, Ahsan with 2 kids, Marcus with a baby, and Kevin ... heh, he is not even married yet, let alone having a child and becoming a father.
Ahsan/Setiawan has more beauty in their attacking play.. Minion aside from their speed, they have really good defence. remind me of Tony/Chandra defence
Well, their efforts seem to pay off - CTC is probably one of the fittest and least injury prone players in the MS circuit (barely ever see him with even strapping/athletic tape on his legs)! Glad to see CTC win this, especially after the outrageous decision at 17-17 in G2. Similar to SWH, he is a hard worker who is consistently in the top flight MS, but seems to always be pipped to the top spots by others...not this time!
Totally! Always a pleasure to observe CTC on court. I added quite a few of the exercises he does to my off court training routine. It's almost like stretching or soft working out and it's nice after a tournament or a big session. His physiotherapist's Instagram account and his own account are a good source of potential exercises. I wish they'd post more!
Under which rule? For good reason, the tournament referee is only consulted if there is a question of law. Otherwise, what if the umpire got it right and the tournament referee – who watches the match from a far worse vantage point and with much more distractions – would overrule it? Per §7.8 ITTO, since this year, the service judge should talk to the umpire here. In contrast to the referee, the service judge's exclusive focus is on the match, and they have a much better position to see what happened.
Being an umpire yourself, you know there is always room for human error during matches but do you have any idea how the line judge and the umpire ended up granting the point to Antonsen? It's quite unbelievable... especially knowing it's the same umpire again. I'm interested to know what's your take regarding the amateurism of umpiring in badmiton at the highest level. And by amateurism I don't mean their competency but the fact they aren't paid which means umpires are not solely focused on their job as an umpire since they are not exclusively umpiring for a living but more as a serious hobby somehow.
THE AMAZING CHOU A fascinating men's singles showdown stole the show of final day, 29 years old Chou Tien Chen achieves the biggest title of his career, won over Anders Antonsen in fantastic 91 gruelling battle. It's self-belief, mental strength, steely determination, excellent stamina combined with technical skill that brought Chou to nail first ever Super 1000 crown. A rocky path for world number three to capture lucrative US$87,500 top prize, started from second round when he downed Lin Dan followed by superb display to tackle home favourite Jonatan Christie, then another three sets to vanquish Kantaphon Wangcharoen before undergoing marathon duel against fresher Antonsen. Tight encounter between these two finalists as indicated by scoreline until mid of deciding game when the young Dane produced some elementary errors at crucial stages, Chou capitalises a good lead to finish the match. The two players lay down on the carpet, exhausted in very tiring duel yet emotional and dramatic atmosphere, credit for both players to deliver entertaining match. TWO FOR JAPAN Japan clinches two titles through Akane Yamaguchi who demonstrated clever play, more aggressive to pressure Pusarla Sindhu as the tall Indian couldn't develop her gameplan, second title for Japanese starlet in 2019 after GER Open Super 300 event. Fukushima/Hirota are back on top, great turnaround in second game, 10-17 down to score eight consecutive points and seal the tie against Matsutomo/Takahashi, 21-17 / 21-18, repeat last year successful here. FukuHiro have improved style of play, more variation and strongest defense between top three Japanese pairs. WORLD NUMBER ONE PREVAIL The mighty combo Zheng/Huang are simply outstanding even their compatriot can't halt the winning streak, two quick games without too much serious trouble to overcome Wang/Huang. Another number one ranked pair Gideon/Sukamuljo defend their crown to edge out the in-form veterans Ahsan/Setiawan with their signature fast furious style, 21-19 / 21-16, a major boost for the Minions to continue winning way in Tokyo. Next stop BWF World Tour, land of rising sun Japan will stage Super 750 event.
Ctc shd get a good massage and try carry on to win jo. Not easy since momota is waiting. The whole bwf organisation is a joke. Sad case.
Late to the party...but I agree with the general sentiment that XD is becoming increasingly bland. Nothing against Zheng and Huang but I'm just so tired of them dominating. I don't even watch the finals anymore unless there's a different pair. It's like other pairs have absolutely no answer to them.
Nobody plays XD anymore. Even HeJiting (TQ) / YutaW / Rankireddy puts more importance in MD. Japanese team dont put much into XD making it some kind of MD/WD leftovers. and It certainly not for the fact that they won but the fact, they won it way too easily. Momota won many tournaments too but you feel anyone on his day can challenge him (AG/AA).
We Cant compare 1000 tournaments to WTF,WC or OG for sure...WTF is where only 8 Best in the World Play and the prize money is massive compared to the 1000 tournaments. WC and OG are the ultimate Highest level the two biggest tournaments in the world so they have their own league and players are made into legends in OG and WC for at only these two platforms you see the national flag going high and its every players dreams to see their flag flying high.
But it was such a clear-cut case that I thought the tournament referee is justified to do so, many watched the TV replay and the two commentators expressed their criticisms as well. I'm not aware the tournament referee is only for consultations by the umpire (and when called upon by the aggrieved player ?). Then , why didn't the service judge do so , if not the tournament referee ? I mean, the laws are there but extraordinary situations require extraordinary measures or actions as man-made laws are imperfect - if the tournament referee used his/her initiative to step in and correct the perceived "miscarriage of justice", it would earn the approval of everyone and reflect well on BWF. I'd go so far as to say that on this occasion we have good reasons not to be a stickler for rules. Just my personal opinion.
That's why I strongly feel we should have not only accreditation of tournament officials but also professionalisation, essentially making them engage in the activity for pay or as a means of livelihood.
She was correct to deny the challenge in the semifinals. §4.1.8.2.1 clearly says: The COCTales and unwritten instructions to the umpire clarify that this really must be immediately, and certainly before the new score is announced. The shuttle lands on the floor at 27:21 minutes into the BWF video. 2 seconds later, the stream cuts away, with this picture: None of the Chinese players has raised their hands, and everybody is going for their interval break. The announcement Service over, 11-7 interval starts at 27:27. We don't see it, but apparently Li/Li challenge only then or afterwards. That's far too late. This incident and the consistent and correct handling by the umpire may very well have caused the referee to appoint her for the finals. How can an experienced umpire with the highest qualification make such a silly mistake? Well, we see airplane pilots making silly mistakes all the time, and they've trained in a much more professional setting. So first I'd say that this kind of total blackout happens from time to time to every human. Specifically, in this case I believe the umpire simply confused the sides. When Anders Antonsen went over the net with his racket, he did obstruct Chou Tien Chen, and that would have been a reasonable (if slightly unusual) call. When I started umpiring, this happened regularly to me. On the first day, often the first matches, of a tournament, I'd award a point to the wrong side. Later, I got the routine, got to know more players, and developed tricks such as picking one player from a doubles, so that I'd just have to decide whether John or Jim won the point, not which doubles pairing. Electronic scoring devices also significantly reduce this kind of mistake, because it's easier to see who's on which side, so you completely eliminate the problem of confusing the sides. Also, the device reduces your workload significantly; you just press a button instead of writing a number in the right row and column. You start making mistakes when your mental workload is high – that's why airplane pilots make mistakes not in level perfect flight, but when some random part breaks and starts spewing error messages. An additional effect is that you really can't remember the last rally as an umpire. Sure, if you concentrated on remembering it, then you could do it, but there are many other things to do. So once you have entered the score, you only have a faint recollection of what happened. (Same as any spectator if I'd ask them after a random rally, I suppose.) In contrast, the audience sees lots of detailed – often slow-motion – replays, which may make the mistake way more obvious. This may be the reason of why the service judge (not line judge) did not intervene. Also, you don't really want to correct umpires on international television unless absolutely necessary, because doing so would totally undermine the authority of the umpire for the rest of the match. And what if the service judge would be wrong? Then you'd look like a fool. So it takes a lot of courage to stand up an go to the umpire, and doing so could have detrimental effects on all TOs. That's a huge hurdle. Maybe we should allow the referee to talk to the umpire, or have a video IRS. These very high-level umpires are already umpiring a lot. Sure, as a professional you would umpire and train even more, but as seen with the example of pilots, you never totally eliminate this kind of error; just maybe half or quarter its probability. Professional umpires would be great, but you have to be realistic with the budget: The 2018 BWF annual report is glossy and does not contain details, but the 2017 one was much more specific. Total budget for tournaments is about 14300 k$ (14.3 Million, but I will just use kilo-Dollar for easier comparison). TOs (referees + umpires + line judges) used to be about 200k$, but with the introduction of semi-professional referees, the total TO budget has swollen to about 800k$. If you just want professional umpires/service judges on semi-finals and finals day, you probably need to have around 10-20 people at the tournament (20 grants you the luxury of everybody just having one match per day, which may increase focus on that match). You may also want to introduce a video IRS, and some people will have vacations, injuries, sickness etc., so in total you probably need 30-40 people, including assessors, managers, HR, and secretaries. On average, there is about one tournament per week. To fly 20 people to 50 tournament for flight costs of $500 each, BWF would have to pay 500k$ for flights alone. Let's say every umpire earns about 50k$. Including taxes, pensions, and various minor expenses, let's say total cost per person is 80k$. With 40 people, this means in addition to the flight, the TO budget would increase by 3200k$. The TO budget would jump from currently ~5% to ~30% of total tournament budget. Where would that money come from? Would you cut advertising? Use cheaper video equipment? Have fewer technical support staff and thus more technical interruptions? You could also change the income side: If each of the 50 tournaments draws 5000 spectators, then you'd only need need to increase ticket price by 15$. Would you pay 15$ to have slightly better umpires, making 5 instead of 20 mistakes in high-profile games per year? It's not impossible that BWF makes huge strides in their sponsorship deals and actually would be able to afford professional referees and umpires some day. And it's not like the current umpires only umpire 3 times a year. They have to umpire a minimum number of matches. Many are also serve at national-level tournaments, which gets them much more practice, since the pause in between matches is much shorter there.
