Thx Sean...i was looking under Family Name, Nationality but couldn't find his name also..How did you manage to find his profile??..
I think because Xie jumped before the serve was served, which I believe is not allowed. Of course, conversely, Xie argued that Nova double pumped on the serve which would also be illegal. In the early rounds I saw a lot of the top players were sort of testing the conditions (draft, lighting, etc.) and gave up a lot of early points because of that. In his first match Taufik served long serves about a dozen times or so to different corners of the service box just to check how the birdie would drift. By the final match I don't think Taufik served long even once. The Lin Dan - Taufik match was a letdown as far as the quality of play, although, since I'm a Taufik fan, I was delighted at the result. I thought it would be a lot more competitive. I can make several conjectures on why Lin Dan didn't do as well: He could be fatigued from his long match against Peter Gade which btw was held long after Taufik's semi match...thus giving LD less time to recover. He may not have adjusted to the time zone, the climate, the food, etc. There are so many things that could affect how a top player perform (or underperform) in a big tournament. At least this time LD performed better than in the Olympics.
Hmm, that is what i call "a special treatment"..Because logically, if you are not a U.S. citizen, how can you play under the U.S. name?? And what is the difference between playing in Olympics and World Championships??Is there a special lee-way for players to compete in a WC?? This WC is nothing more than a stepping-stone for the US Badminton program(esp. for Tony as well). If he was playing with Indonesia, it's almost an impossibility for him to be in his current spot. Tony will then partner with Halim to play *under* the U.S. name for outside international tournaments, since now they can go anywhere they want and if they win tournaments, they can get more money(eventhough both are not legally U.S. citizen). That's the advantage of bolting out from the Indonesian badminton program(Pelatnas), where most likely over there, they will be fighting for spots to play outside and the prize money will be controlled by PBSI. Regarding Tony's residential status, i'm not that well familiar. But according to an article recently posted here of the Q&A, Tony said "even his Green Card hasn't arrived yet"?!?!Personally i don't know if Tony & Halim wants to go back and play for Indonesia again, i mean they could and i'm sure PBSI would like to. But in 3 yrs. he will be 33 yrs. old and Halim 32 yrs. old and I don't think PBSI would go for that. Unless they still stick with a "target-oriented goal". I just feel this might end up the same situation again like what Flandy and EngHian went through a couple yrs. ago. And esp. if Tony and his wife decides to maybe go back to Indonesia in the future. Right now, i just think Tony is waiting for Halim to become eligible to play for U.S. and will take the opportunity of playing internationally, as well as making extra monies along the way, competing under the U.S. name, just like Flandy and EngHian did when they were in England. As for Howard's next partner,(drum roll) who else but Bob M.(or could it be someone else)..Good luck to both of them...
Just a brief personal comment to most of your points below is basically, back to the AC draft issue. It played an important factor, esp. coming from China's contingent. As i posted earlier on the 2nd or 3rd day of the tournament, Taufik said "the court condition and AC draft really is the 2nd opponent, beside the player him/herself in this tournament. And whoever can control the that factor, will win the WC"..
The special treat was from IBF, not from US immigration. There is a gap between the green card approval (treated as a legal USA PR) and actually getting the phyiscal card (in CA, there might be more than a year gap). They have a stamp in your passport before you receive the real card (how slow US government is). This was why in my early thread I was guessing Tony just got his green card (no special treatment from USA IMMIGRATION consider he had been USA around 3 years already). This would indicated nearly another 5 years wait for US citizen if no special speady treatment from US IMMIGRATION. And Olympics is more country orientated and badminton world championship is more individual orientated. They would have much strick citizen test rule for Olympics. I do not think IBF had power over olympics committ to let Tony to represent USA if he is not a USA citizen at 2008. I am a Tony fan, so I really want to see Tony/Halim in 2008 Olympics. But I do not hold my breath on this since it would hard for PBSI approve them to represent INA. And they are "old" at that time. And I am sure INA would turn out some good MD pairs at 2008 (I always have faith on INA MD). So if I can see Tony/Halim play for some OPENs (very individual orientated) in next several years, I will be happy. Who cares what country they represent. It will be benefit for badminton fans.
actually, in the US Green Card process, there is a category for individual with extraordinary talents. the processing time for this category is much much faster than the other ones. examples of ppl who are eligible are ppl with nobel prize, pro-athletes, etc. i am sure Tony as a Olympics gold medalist utilizes this option when he applied his green card. and this would not be considered special treatment as it is a legal and legitimate immigration process.
Agreed. I am sure Tony is using this category to apply green card which is normal choice for him. And it still took him more than 3 years to get the green card. There was absolutely no special treatment from US IMMIGRATION. And as I said before, Tony himself thought he would wait another 5 years to get USA citizen and no way before 2008. And believe or not, I do not think he would apply USA citizenship if he plans going back to INA to help out his father in law. I do not think INA accept dual citizenship.
Ah...I beg to differ, I certainly don't think it's possible. What would the Danes gain by letting USA beat them? Or are they also now moving to the US? Also, for all you asians out there thinking this is a conspiracy, remember that in asian society, saving face is huge. Think of how embarrassing it is for Malaysia, Denmark, and Indonesia for losing to the US. Tony hanging out with Chandra is no big deal since they are good friends. So, just because they were hanging out together doesn't mean they were up to no good. The Tony/Howard combo have won 1 Open this year, and have taken the #1 Danes to 3 games before.
Yes, as reported yesterday, Howard started playing at 5, presumably at the local YMCA and probably coached by his father who must be quite a good player when he was still in Vietnam. My source, who represented Vietnam and now an undergrad here, is younger than Bach, around 24 and his reply to my email is as follows: "I am not sure if he was born in US or Vietnam bcos we almost had no time to interact with each other. When he was in Vietnam for, maybe, training or competitions, I was still in the national junior team and hence we didn't have a chance to train with each other. But I heard from my senior that his family shifted to US very soon after that and of course he formed his skills in US. And just a few years ago, 5 years if I am not wrong, he was back Vietnam for a friendly team tournament and played againts us. Ardy Wiranata was both the US coach and player then." His partner, Tony Gunawan, who wants to be a US citizen and try for the Beijing Olympics because he is already 30, said Bach is as good a player as any and credit should not be taken away from him for their recent win.
If this was the Olympics Tony would not be able to play and there would have been no mixed nationalities (South Africa and Nigeria) playing together. Worlds is an individual tournament. As for "if you are not a U.S. citizen, how can you play under the U.S. name??", ever heard of residency? How many top players are playing for another country? There are alot of Chinese players playing for European and other asian countries, how is that legal? Residency! So this "special treatment" is not so special after all is it? And you should be ashame to accuse the tournament as being a farce. Gee, maybe all the results were rigged....I don't think so.
haha. not so. during the Taufik/Polsana match, Taufik got a bad call and proceed to smash his racket into pieces...
i am afraid to say that i have missed much of the MS match. after WS finished, i used up all the memory card for my camera, i went downstairs to the media center to download them into my laptop. by the time i was half done, i already saw via the video feed the game was at 10-0. by the time i got back up to the audience stand, i already missed most of the action. :crying:
Tony is good, but I don't see him playing singles against other pairs. Howard had to cover for himself and he did a fine job. His defence was reasonably good even against Chandra/Sigit. Howard Bach with Bob M. (for instance) won't be as good as Howard/Tony. But Tony Gunawan with the same Bob M. won't be as good as Howard/Tony as well. A lot of factors contributed to Bach/Gunawan's victory. A bit of luck, yes. Howard playing the tournament of his life. He will probably never play as well again (still he will die happy). Gunawan, playing well, instilling confidence in Bach, giving him the freedom to smash his hardest. Bach, playing well, reciprocating the confidence back to Gunawan. The crowd which magnified all these factors in favour of their favoured pair. The wind factor, perhaps resulting in more drives rather than lobs; in this tournament, no other player was as good as Tony Gunawan when it comes to interception at the net. Not a single hint of conspiracy. Remember that Bach/Gunawan were a seeded team. They didn't come from nowhere. Cheng was unseeded but she nearly toppled the eventual champion. No one thinks there is a conspiracy because we can see Cheng was good. Bach/Gunawan is also obviously a quality pair. They had troubled Chandra/Sigit before. Now they are in home ground with factors in favour of them, why is it inconceivable that they can beat the Indons?
Couldnt help noticing that Luluk/Alven were blaming each other during the game against Tony/Howard. I wonder whether this partnership will split.
There is no doubt that Tony played the major role controlling the net and setting up for Howard. If Howard played with Bob Malaythong the result would have been different. But it still takes two to win in doubles. Tony brought out the best of Howard. No matter what, both deserves the credit.
i noticed that too!..they were bickering a lot, one of them kept telling the other what to do...its definately not a good thing for a successful partnership.
