2004 OCBC/Yonex US Open 2004

I was at the US Open and came home with mixed feeling. I enjoyed the woman's singles and doubles finals. The match between Lili Zhou and Xing were good to watch again if anyone has recorded the event. Lili plays in my club regularly and I think she ran out of gas after the first game.

Women's doubles were impressive too as both pairs from Taiwan put up a tough fight, and most of all, both team were more balance. The rallies were longer and more entertaining compared to the mixed doubles and mens doubles.

Mens singles, kind of disappointing. When PR withdrawed in the middle of first match, everyone was wondering what was going on. The organizer did not even explain what happened to him. My friends and I were all pretty upset with the organizer, hey, this is not a free event, we each paid $25 to see the tournament. At least there should be an announcement what was going on.

Mens doubles was pretty boring, as it was obvious the US pairs could take the Danes easily. It is not balance, one side is much stronger than the other and there was hardly any rallies.
 
Pecheur said:
Easy, geez, if anyone's going to slag off the opinions of admin it's ME! ;P

The guy was injured, and retired whilst leading, what would you say if the score was Taufik versus say um, some up and coming young Danish player, you'd probably say the same thing that Mag did.
Click to expand...

HAHA why would i care about taufik

rather, peter gade was lucky aganst chien yu hsiu in the olympics

chien yu hsiu should have won, i dont see why peter gade was so lucky
 
this was sent to me by a new member ctjcad:

 I went to see most of the matches during this year's US Open. Quite a
surprise to not see Ronald Susilo play.

One thing I noticed, is probably the making of a new Women Single star
in the form of Singapore Women Single's player, Xing AiYing. Boy oh boy
does she look calm and poise or what. She is very consistent in her
play, techniques and demeanor. And at such a young age, barring any major
injuries, she has a very bright future. If she can make it and qualify
for next year's World Championship, I won't be surprise to see her
succeed and go far, considering how young she is. Too bad she chose to play
for S'pore over China, I don't know why. If she does play Women's
Double, with Shinta Sari, I would recommend Xing AiYing to just concentrate
on the Women Single field. I don't know anyone or many player that can
succeed playing Single and or Doubles/Mixed at the same time. Women's
Single is her specialty. Lili Zhou has no chance, IMO, she is one level
below Xing plus add her age also which is more than Xing.

As far as the Indonesian players, yes David Pohan is Jimmy Pohan's
brother. Yes, I'm Indonesian. I believe David Pohan is a coach @ Djarum
Club in Indonesia. He came here cos he got his visa last minute. Him
playing Men's Single is also last minute as Haryanto Arbi had to pull out
from the Men's Single(H. Arbi is DEFINITELY out of shape). He and
Angeline De Pauw lost in the MX cos they never practice. There are 8 players
from Indonesia(6 men and 2 women) and all of them are over the hill and
out fo shape players. Basically like someone mentioned, they are
ex-national players and they all come to play for fun(some went to Las Vegas
prior to the tournament). One of them, Eny Erlangga is out of the
national team and she told me she is considering moving here to the U.S. So
is Halim Heryanto and his wife. Last I heard they are interested in
moving to the U.S. and were discussing somekind of deal with Don Chew(I
believe on one night in the restaurant with Tony), but heard the sal!
ary wasn't "enough", around only $30,000(I guess Don wants to hire him
to coach also for the U.S. team). So I don't know what the progress is.

As for the U.S. becoming a badminton "power", it will take a lot of
sacrifice and a loooot of work. They are on the right course, esp. with
Tony coaching and playing with Howard, but they need more than that. Even
if Halim joins Tony as coach/player in U.S., it's still not enough. The
U.S. has a lot of "ideal" players to play this sport(esp. since
Americans tend to be tall and lengthy). But for some reason the image of it
needs to change. I don't know how it will change but it will take a lot
of work. Even if Tony and Howard play for the U.S. next year @ the WC,
the marketing will be hard as badminton is already known as an Asian
game and to a certain extent European. This next 2 tournament for Tony and
Howard(Dutch and Denmark Open) should gauge how far they can go for
next year-hope the best for them.

I think the only way for the U.S. to garner badminton is to import
international players. Imagine the top players from Indonesia/China move to
the U.S., that would be a big shift in power. Especially the U.S. can
provide more "incentives" than most countries. If that's not feasible,
then another way is to send the U.S. players overseas to either train or
play in Asian/Europena countries(ie. Indonesia, China, Korea, Malaysia,
Denmark). It just depends on how much the USBD wants to invest in.

Well, enjoyed this year's tournament, eventhough it's not as exciting
as last year's and the year before(w/ Peter Gade). The Men's Double was
a doozer, no match at all. All I can say is as long as Tony plays, good
luck to the other team. Anyway, can't wait for next year's WC, it
should be really fun(I really want to see Taufik play vs. Lin Dan) and see
all the top players play and give it their best. Who knows maybe Tony
and Howard can go all the way to the final and maybe win it all(hehe)-;).
 
kwun said:
this was sent to me by a new member ctjcad:

One thing I noticed, is probably the making of a new Women Single star
in the form of Singapore Women Single's player, Xing AiYing. Boy oh boy
does she look calm and poise or what. She is very consistent in her
play, techniques and demeanor. And at such a young age, barring any major injuries, she has a very bright future. If she can make it and qualify
for next year's World Championship, I won't be surprise to see her
succeed and go far, considering how young she is. Too bad she chose to play for S'pore over China, I don't know why. If she does play Women's Double, with Shinta Sari, I would recommend Xing AiYing to just concentrate on the Women Single field.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kwun for this new member's views.

I have profiled Xing Aiying in another post under "US Open Winners" and gave some reasons as to why Singapore chose Aiying in its foreign talent programme.

Maybe the new member is not aware of the circumstances. Aiying has no chance in China. China didn't want her when she wanted to play professionally, not even her own home province, Jiangsu, all because she was considered "too short". Singapore has always been on the lookout for suitable teenage candidates to nurture and develop into champions.

Aiying got the nod from the selectors and was put through an appropriate training programme in the hands of qualified and experienced coaches from China who are under the employ of the SBA. She was then barely 13 going on 14. Now 15, she has grown taller and stronger, fitter and faster and I believe that's why Lili Zhou couldn't match up to the young and vibrant, though inexperienced Aiying. Sure, Singapore will continue to develop and exposure her to be the best she could. If she can remain committed in her training, I agree that she will become very good, perhaps better than Li Li.

Her 16 year old doubles partner, Sari, from central-Java, who lost to her 8-11, 8-11 in the same tourney, is also another good potential and both good friends are very hardworking and motivated. I hope Sari can go far too. As to whether they should concentrate on playing singles only and break up their doubles partnership, I think this is too early to tell as they are still young. In any case, they enjoy playing together and motivating each other. Their coach will be able to decide in due course.

BTW they both look forward to becoming Singapore citizens to follow the footpath of bigger brother, Ronald Susilo and 'bigger' sister, Li Li. :)
 
kwun said:
this was sent to me by a new member ctjcad:

 I went to see most of the matches during this year's US Open. Quite a
surprise to not see Ronald Susilo play.

One thing I noticed, is probably the making of a new Women Single star
in the form of Singapore Women Single's player, Xing AiYing. Boy oh boy
does she look calm and poise or what. She is very consistent in her
play, techniques and demeanor. And at such a young age, barring any major
injuries, she has a very bright future. If she can make it and qualify
for next year's World Championship, I won't be surprise to see her
succeed and go far, considering how young she is. Too bad she chose to play
for S'pore over China, I don't know why. If she does play Women's
Double, with Shinta Sari, I would recommend Xing AiYing to just concentrate
on the Women Single field. I don't know anyone or many player that can
succeed playing Single and or Doubles/Mixed at the same time. Women's
Single is her specialty. Lili Zhou has no chance, IMO, she is one level
below Xing plus add her age also which is more than Xing.

As far as the Indonesian players, yes David Pohan is Jimmy Pohan's
brother. Yes, I'm Indonesian. I believe David Pohan is a coach @ Djarum
Club in Indonesia. He came here cos he got his visa last minute. Him
playing Men's Single is also last minute as Haryanto Arbi had to pull out
from the Men's Single(H. Arbi is DEFINITELY out of shape). He and
Angeline De Pauw lost in the MX cos they never practice. There are 8 players
from Indonesia(6 men and 2 women) and all of them are over the hill and
out fo shape players. Basically like someone mentioned, they are
ex-national players and they all come to play for fun(some went to Las Vegas
prior to the tournament). One of them, Eny Erlangga is out of the
national team and she told me she is considering moving here to the U.S. So
is Halim Heryanto and his wife. Last I heard they are interested in
moving to the U.S. and were discussing somekind of deal with Don Chew(I
believe on one night in the restaurant with Tony), but heard the sal!
ary wasn't "enough", around only $30,000(I guess Don wants to hire him
to coach also for the U.S. team). So I don't know what the progress is.

As for the U.S. becoming a badminton "power", it will take a lot of
sacrifice and a loooot of work. They are on the right course, esp. with
Tony coaching and playing with Howard, but they need more than that. Even
if Halim joins Tony as coach/player in U.S., it's still not enough. The
U.S. has a lot of "ideal" players to play this sport(esp. since
Americans tend to be tall and lengthy). But for some reason the image of it
needs to change. I don't know how it will change but it will take a lot
of work. Even if Tony and Howard play for the U.S. next year @ the WC,
the marketing will be hard as badminton is already known as an Asian
game and to a certain extent European. This next 2 tournament for Tony and
Howard(Dutch and Denmark Open) should gauge how far they can go for
next year-hope the best for them.

I think the only way for the U.S. to garner badminton is to import
international players. Imagine the top players from Indonesia/China move to
the U.S., that would be a big shift in power. Especially the U.S. can
provide more "incentives" than most countries. If that's not feasible,
then another way is to send the U.S. players overseas to either train or
play in Asian/Europena countries(ie. Indonesia, China, Korea, Malaysia,
Denmark). It just depends on how much the USBD wants to invest in.

Well, enjoyed this year's tournament, eventhough it's not as exciting
as last year's and the year before(w/ Peter Gade). The Men's Double was
a doozer, no match at all. All I can say is as long as Tony plays, good
luck to the other team. Anyway, can't wait for next year's WC, it
should be really fun(I really want to see Taufik play vs. Lin Dan) and see
all the top players play and give it their best. Who knows maybe Tony
and Howard can go all the way to the final and maybe win it all(hehe)-;).
Click to expand...

I did not know you were there at the OCBC; otherwise i would've loved to meet you there. I was there sitting down trying to find out how would i meet the BFers among so many spectators. I didnot know that you are an Indo; i kept on thinking you are Malay-Chinese. Next time when you come down here again, please let me know. I would love to meet you and say hi.

BTW, Rudy Gunawan has asked me to help him run an Open tournament at OCBC (Prize money is $ 2300.00). It will be called "Champion in Christ Badminton Tournament" date Dec 4, 04 (Maybe thru Dec 5th, if needed).
Maybe you can bring some along players from Nor Cal to participate.
 
to LoH:

not to downgrade Lili Zhou or anything, but i guess Xing didn't have to face a "world-experienced" player. It will be interesting though to see how she fare and does in the Denmark Open, how far she'll go. Maybe the US Open win will provide her somekind of a boost. As far as her playing doubles, true it's still not out of the question, but the reality is most players I know, doesn't have enough success playing singles and doubles/mx at the same time. Heck, not many top world players can do that. The point is, Xing is still very young and her future is very bright.

to harimau:
Kwun is not Indo.I'm Indo. Yah, I overheard about Rudy Gunawan's event, he was discussing it with Tony/Halim on the 1st day of the US Open. I don't know what he's plan is, but I guess somekind of a social event which relates to his church(he's a pastor also). I don't know if the event is free or not. And who are the sponsors.
 
SmartCivet said:
Xing Aiying is exactly 15 years old. She is come from Jiang Su Province of China.(Same as DAI Yun) Last year she went to Singapore.The SBA is judgematic.
Click to expand...

That's Jiangsu. Was and still is a strong provience, stars:

Yang Yang
Sun Jun
Gun Jun
Luo Yun
Dai Yun
 
jump_smash said:
That's Jiangsu. Was and still is a strong provience, stars:

Yang Yang
Sun Jun
Gun Jun
Luo Yun
Dai Yun
Click to expand...
Not bad! :D
Are all the children called Jun or Yun in Jiangsu? :p ;) :o (sorry, it was easy :rolleyes: )
 
ctjcad said:
to LoH:

not to downgrade Lili Zhou or anything, but i guess Xing didn't have to face a "world-experienced" player. It will be interesting though to see how she fare and does in the Denmark Open, how far she'll go. Maybe the US Open win will provide her somekind of a boost. As far as her playing doubles, true it's still not out of the question, but the reality is most players I know, doesn't have enough success playing singles and doubles/mx at the same time. Heck, not many top world players can do that. The point is, Xing is still very young and her future is very bright.
Click to expand...

I agree. Obviously the US Open did not attract the more experienced women players like Kanako Yonekura of Japan, then ranked world No. 10, who participated in a satellite event, the Iran Open in Tehran in February. She was beaten by our own Li Li, 11-9,11-6 in the quarter-finals as Li Li needed the points to qualify for the Olympics, whereas Yonekura need not.

Aiying will obviously not have a chance in a 5* event like the Danish Open but it will be interesting to know how far she can advance. Even for the more experienced and older Li Li, she only managed to show her ability during her first round Olympics match against world No.1 Gong Ruina, after having been exposed to the international circuit for a much longer time. She stretched Gong in the first game by leading something like 9-7, but succumbed thereafter. As I have said earlier, even Aiying's victory at the US Open was a pleasant surprise. Nobody expected her to win at her first attempt in a 1* event.

So, I hope Aiying will not get the wrong ideas and think she has already arrived. That will be the start of her downfall! She should take her recent win as an incentive to train harder and qualify to participate in more demanding GP events. ;)
 
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