Honestly, I felt that both pairs had something to prove. With Ong/Teo being kicked from the national team, they probably wanted to show they have the ability to perform well. Lee/Kim, from their recent interview, are set on raising their ranking, especially since LYD had too deal with his hip/back injury last year. He seems to have rested up in the last few weeks and seems to be returning to his previous self(I loved his defense and cross court blocks that was seen often when he was playing with Yoo Yeon Seong). I feel bad for the Malaysian pair, especially seeing as how they held their own pretty well, although nerves got the best of them at the end. Hope Kim/Lee will play Ahsan/Setiawan like the old days, although with Alfian/Ardianto, it'll be a tough game.
i wonder if KKK has something against the Malaysian pairs. funny to see him giving advice during intermissions lol like wouldnt he want the Malaysian pairs to win?
Noticed that serves will be a big problem for LYD and Rian specifically. Having watch many slow-mo videos of LYD's serve, I realized before the 115cm rule, he used to do a slice serve from higher up to make his serve barely go over the net while the slice made the serve drop quickly. Currently, he does more of a pushy serve instead of a slice, where he holds it for longer and tries to control how high his serves go. It's good when it's performed well, but sometimes, if the height is good, the distance is short. If the distance is good, the height is unstable. Indonesian badminton prioritizes the first 4 shots of the rally, with Indonesia dominating serve returns and drive battles. As badminton has evolved to be faster pace and drive oriented, it's no wonder Indonesia is a top performer. Korean badminton on the other hand, is more defense-oriented, and is more willing to put in more work and prolong the rallies. A good offense often wins against a good defense if consistent, so it'll depends on consistency tomorrow. Although I hope for Korean victory, it'll be a difficult challenge. Doesn't help that LYD is trying to become a larger presence in the back court, but can't be helped as Kim isn't as fast or strong as YYS, JJS, or KSH. At least he has decent front court. Kinda feels like LYD is trying to revert to how he was when he was a mixed player or before his shoulder injury. His smashes are consistent but lack power or variation(he targets the middle a lot). It is nice that LYD seems to put away his pride and support Kim more when mistakes are made(not completely, but it's getting better)
I was laughing so hard when I saw KKK on the Korean side and TBH on the Malaysian side. I mean, they are all good friends, having been rivals for a while and KKK has been playing a lot of exhibition matches in Korea, being on good terms with the Korean players. TBH has also played in a few tournaments with Kim Sarang, so overall, I think there is no beef, and KKK is just supporting a good friend. TBH was in this tournament with another young Malaysian player so he might just be trying to support the next generation of players and the national team. KKK isn't affiliated with them anymore, so that might be the reason why he is helping his friend LYD.
Their best chance tomorrow is to target rian a lot and avoid fajar as much as possible. personally I don't see them beating fajar/rian tomorrow, unless rian really having a bad day.
I love 3 point shots.. I thought its boring because Lakers are number 1 and they have Davis and he just post up in centre and score what-i see as easy buckets.. NBA is good .. the pace is much faster these days due to new rules , i think badminton is boring..
Yup, what a bummer, at deuce, smashed one wide, then misjudged a shot at the sideline when he could have played it. Raised my hopes and expectations up so high only to dash it to pieces in anti-climax, ending not with a bang but a whimper. Tbh, I still don't see Chen Long returning to his peak form yet as in 2014-16, that is, the level of consistency, tenacity in defence (like a wall in getting so many near-impossible shots back) and in counterattack after his opponent's attack peters off or turning defence into attack (which is more devastating than when he initiated the attack) are just not there yet. I wonder how many players, if any, can be in their prime twice in their career; in other words, reach their peak and stay there for a number of years, then decline for a few years and then come back up a second time for a while, perhaps a year or two, before going out for good.
I thought i see 2 different ChenLong in 2015 vs 2016. He just happens to win OG in 2016. My favourite CL is 2015 CL. Ever since that year, hasnt been the same. All I remember is he won 1 title in 2016 (OG) and 2 FrenchOpen (18 & 19) , his Final against LD at MO, did he win anything in 2017 and other titles after 2015?
Rules about timeouts, half time break (shorter) and during free throws (not to walk about or someth like that). Think it has been about 2 years but i just subscribed to Nba.TV for this season. Rockets my favourite.
vik: 5 match points. Hmm, who will i meet tomorrow? *gone**gone**gone**gone*also gone. Jeez, what to say in facebook after this chen L: i had to play so careful those last 5 points. Now i can relax a bit *hitting wide ______________________________________________________________________________________________
SEMIFINAL (12.00pm) => https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/...74F318-A951-4C8F-9451-5DA3F33DF6C3&d=20200111 All four quarterfinal MS ties completed in three games that describing really tight competition in this category. A delighted day for home fans as their favourite player Lee Zii Jia books final four spot to eliminate Shi Yuqi. The Chinese looks shaky when Lee could anticipated well almost all of his attacking shots, mentally crumbled and lost focus after had great start in first game, 21-12. What an ending, 20-19 when the Malaysian could retrieve shuttlecock in difficult position that surprised Shi who responding with weak shot that hits the net. Ng Ka Long also presents strong showing to disappoint more favoured opponent, proving his victory over Chou Tien Chen previously was no fluke, continuing excellent performance to topple Jonatan Christie, implementing patient style, solid defense against the offensive Indonesian. Both of the underdogs find heavyweight rivals to overcome, Lee will take on King Kento while Hong Kong shuttler has Viktor Axelsen who disposed the Olympic Champion Chen Long in three games. Chen had good momentum when he saved five match points but couldn't convert it instead of losing the next two points. Straight forward matches for whole women's singles last eight, the most shocking outcome is He Bingjiao who subdues her nemesis Nozomi Okuhara, 21-17 / 21-10. Losing eight times of nine encounters, the lefthander He who's quite slim now offers something different this time, minimizing her routine error and keeps focus, maintaining endurance in long rallies and waiting opportunity to kill the shuttlecock with smashes. Other results, Tai Tzu Ying controls the match against Sindhu with her precision that most troubling the Indian, 21-16 / 21-16. Saina Nehwal is no match to Carolina Marin as the Spaniard destroys her in two quick games, 21-8 / 21-7. China leading ladies, He and Chen Yufei will face stern test today, Tai TY and Marin respectively. Out of prediction in men's doubles top-half draw, the Minions made great comeback, trailing behind 10-17 then took over the lead 20-17 but unfortunately couldn't convert three match points and lost narrowly to younger teammates Alfian/Ardianto in close contest, 21-23. Next, the world number 5 pair will meet the unseeded Korean combination Kim GJ/Lee YD who also prevailed in thrilling match last night against home representatives Ong YS/Teo EY, 19-21 / 21-15 / 22-20. The Daddies battled hard to overcome TPE duo Lee Y/Wang CL in three games, 20-22 / 21-18 / 21-19 and gets former world champions Li JH/Liu YC to secure final spot. Rather unusual landscape in women's doubles semis when none of top four pairs survived. Li WM/Zheng Yu also Matsuyama/Shida perform superbly so far, beyond expectation to vanquish top ranked combinations. Li/Zheng sent packing Korean powerful duo Kim/Kong while the Japanese youngsters dismiss Lee/Shin in three games. Two other semifinalist here, China second best Du Y/Li YH and the resurgents Polii/Rahayu who trying to make amends after a series of flop performance lately. Barring any major upset, mixed doubles will be sealed by Chinese pair, Zheng/Huang demonstrate their monster mode, demolish local pair Goh SH/Shevon Lai and will be challenged by Indonesians Faizal/Widjaja. A more appealing encounter will pay attention on bottom half draw, backed by home crowd Rio silver medalists Chan PS/Goh LY are expected to spring surprise over world number two Wang YL/Huang DP. LIVE TV COVERAGE
Whoops.. It is used to be like that.. with 16 SS in a year, will never know how CHN didnt win one single title in 2018. and it will be new pair from CHN, since Korea 2017 - other than CQC/JYF. wow.
