Today Zheng/Huang made sure to lift less. But the resulted flat exchanges don’t always benefit them. These two pairs are on a pretty even ground.
I feel that Chen Long cannot be faulted even if he' playing half-hardheartedly since he has no motive to lose against Ginting on purpose (He's not in p. On the other hand, if Watanabe and Higashino really play to lose on purpose in order to oust the Chinese pair; I'm sure it will arouse suspicion from BWF. Not sure if it will lead to punishment or not, but at least it'll create controversy. I understand the strategy and all, but I prefer for player to always give their best in a match for the sake of badminton and the audience too, unless they are unable to do so under some circumstances.
To me, Jordan/Oktavianty is more dangerous than Zheng/Huang in this tournament. Higashino cannot defend Jordan's smash but can do it against Zheng's smash now. Anyway, Japanese didn't do it this way.
this group format should be abandoned then..... especially in olympic.....sport is all about trying your best every time.....not 70% or 50% or 100% depending on draw/prediction.... lame
i blame ZSW smashes losing sting coz of stupid new rubbery rackets...give him back his n7 and if he still loses his one-shot-kill then i'll shut up about.racket making difference blabla bla
Probably just a little blessing for ASG after losing heartbreaking final in HKO. Being the group winner against all the fit beasts
I do agree that having players try their best at all times is the ideal, but unfortunately the group stage system does not facilitate this by allowing certain abuses. My point about Chen Long is that he was very lackluster despite having no incentive to do so. So if Watanabe/Higashino were to have that same “slump”, but only this time they have a certain incentive to do so, can one for sure say that it is due to that incentive that they play badly? There is a lot of gray area here so it’s impossible for BWF to definitively conclude Watanabe/Higashino of deliberately losing just because they have an incentive to do so. And unfortunately that was how the CHN team under Li Yong Bo managed to get away with it so many times before. (Though I would add that the current CHN team under the new head coaches exhibit no such tendency which have given us great matches between CHN players)
wow, JordanOktavianti beat ZhengHuang two times and almost beat them t I know that japanese wont do that, just hope they can play safe like AhsanHendra, Yuta shouldnt spend so much energy and do so much dangerous move to retrieve
All the matches that involving Viktor Axelsen will be ignored. Chou TC v Ginting = 2-1 Chou TC v Chen Long = 0-2 Chen Long v Ginting : 0-2 Ginting has 3 games, both Chou & Chen have 2 games but Chen Long won over Chou TC so Ginting (group B winner) & Chen Long (runner-up) progress.
Seriously Higashino cant defend Jordan smash? didnt watch it. Not a lot of smash today. Zheng smash not as hard as it used to be, you guys reckon?
Any advantage for the group winner in this event? Or will they just re-draw the match up for semifinals?
