thx for the photos chris, they look less blurry than the first batch. Was it because u changed the iso to 400?
Bdminton is more popular in Russia than most countries and Russians had been good in badminton for a long time. This is not something new. Russians were consistantnly ranked #4 or #5 in Europe in the 1990's behind Denmark, Sweden, and England. They have dropped to about #6 now behind Netherlands, and Germany; but that happens. This current performance is really not an indication of badminton becoming more popular in anywhere.
looks like all the scores are up except Gunawan/Haryanto's... where's ctjcad with the live posts via mobile phone/PDA hope he has/had a chance to chat with Gunawan about his plans for the future.
All the finals have been completed. Team Russia is the big winner of the US Open 2006, with 3 titles in the bag. The first match of the final saw Sergey Ivlev/Nina Vislova beating their compatriot Vitaly Durkin/Valerya Sorokina in 3 sets 15-21, 21-15, 21-13. Later on, the two Russian girls (Nina Vislova/Valerya Sorokina) won their women's doubles final by beating Marina Yakusheva/Ella Karachkova 21-15, 21-18. Vitaly Durkin had to settle for two silvers as he and his partner (Alexander Nikolaenko) lost to the ex World and All-England Champion pairing of Tony Gunawan/Halim Haryanto 10-21, 19-21. This is their 3rd titles after pairing up once again since last year (with golds in Bitburger and Chinese Taipei Opens 2005). Remember that Tony also won golds with Howard Bach in the World Championships 2005 and with Candra Wijaya in the Indonesia Open 2006. He also won the mixed doubles event of the Chinese Taipei Open 2005 with Cheng Wen-Hsing after beating the first seeded pair of Lee Jae Jin/Lee Hyo Jung. So, it has been a fruitful 12 months for Tony Gunawan. In the men's singles, there was no upset as the top seed Yousuke Nakanishi triumphed over Andrew Dabeka 21-16, 21-13. In the women's singles, the top seed Ella Karachkova also won the gold after her opponent (Johannah Lee) retired (probably due to injury?) at the interval of the first set when the score was 11-6. To round up, we have been pretty surprised with the emergence of the Russians in the US Open 2006. Will they start to come to Asia and compete with the best or will they compete only in the European tournaments as before? We shall await...
that's good played from halim haryanto and tony gunawan...... they both set up (tony front & halim back) to force their opponent to clear and halim just got easy smash.... the russian player can't even return the smash from halim...... but when the russian player smash tony and halim always returned it back.... about 3 or 4 commbination smash from them (russia) finally got one point.....
Off topic-Yes...well, part of it.. yes & yes....i did changed the ISO to 400, but also was able to sit up closer to the court and able to steady my hand for the shots...but still, it's not as good, as i think my "weapon" is def. not up to par...hope next time i'll do this, i can get a better digicam, prefer to still have a point and shoot type though, but maybe will get an SLR-like type with a zoom lens that can go up to 300mm+.... anyways, will upload some more remaining pics of the SF days and the Finals day...stay tune..
hehe, noo, i wish if i have that advanced tech with me.. Anyways, as promised earlier, i asked Tony & Halim quickly abt their upcoming plans, just before i left, and Tony said he WILL attend BOTH the HK Open as well as the Korean Open...As for Halim, he said, no he will not go to either tournaments..Hope that's what you're inquiring abt..
Thanks for checking on this sir! Any chance Tony mentioned the World Championships? Presumably both the HK and Korea tourneys will be with Candra
OK guys, just came back from the Finals day of the U.S. Open...When i arrived, was quite surprised that the venue barely has some people..Even as the night progressed, the venue didn't fill up as much as it could-even from both sides of the benches..Anyways, will have lotsa pics and some review in a bit, but will reply to badMania's post first.. ..after watching the XD Final, i thought the 2nd best, or most arguably the "best" Men's player for the Russian team is Ivlev..Boy, the guy has all the shots covered:ie. smash and esp. his backhand, very2 strong in comparison to Durkin's..Then i thought, perhaps Ivlev could've paired with Durkin in MD, but maybe Ivlev's game is probably more suited for a single game...Same thing with Karachkova, she tried playing WD, but i can see her technique more suited for a single game..(will comment later and have some pics).. ..it's too bad Johanna had to W.O. in the Final..She tried her best, but i guess it wasn't meant to be..Wise move, as she accepted the loss graciously with the fans giving her a big round of applause for her effort..(will have more comments later and pics).. yes, they really took advantage of an already weak field of players(with the absence of Minarti Timur, Lili Wang etc.)..all they've got to go from here is up.. Alright, that's all for now..stay tune for the pics and my brief review of the Finals day later(will have quite a bit, so hope you all can be patient)..
sorry, did not ask him abt his plan for the WC...but yes, barring any last minute changes, he will play with Candra in those tournaments..
Tony Gunawan will soon join Danish Club http://www.badminton-indonesia.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1525&Itemid=2 What a big surprise???
Day 4 - Semifinals Day - Some pics and review (part 8) ..sorry folks, wasn't able to upload these pics..My modem actually burned out this morning and was able to get another one in the afternoon..But by then, it was a bit late to upload these.. anyways, here are a few more of the last remaining batches of pics..
Day 5 - Finals Day - Some pics and reviews (part 1) Alright guys, here are the pics and reviews of the Finals Day... XD - Saw a real fast actions match. Both pairs seemed to want to get the title very bad. I thought both pairs played evenly thruout the entire match. With a couple of fancy shots here and there and some costly errors as deciders for the match. Again, the outcome were on the gals as they were the ones protecting and controlling the net. Could've gone either way, but the male partner, as a customary in XD, i thought Ivlev played very aggressively, despite having a pretty good size knee brace. I thought his shots were quite consistent and complete..Smashes, you got it. Backhands drives, you got it..At the end, he and Vislova were the winners.. WS - Saw an unfortunate ending to Johanna. She gave her best by coming out and at least playing thru the 11 pts, but after that, she just couldn't force it anymore. I guess it wasn't meant to be for her. The Russian gal was the lucky winner..But Johanna was very gracious, even thanked the crowd who applauded her effort after the award ceremony.. MS - Again, the cat-quickness of Nakanishi really was the difference. He basically controlled the game from the beginning. While Dabeka relied on some good opportunities at the net to score some points. In all, he wasn't able to create shots where Nakanishi would have a difficult time retrieving. Saw a couple of shot selections whic Dabeka made which really was like a "free-points"..BTW, i chatted with a fan and we both agree Nakanishi reminded us of Lee Chong Wei(the way he moves and his strokes).. WD - Well, the 2 top pairs surely deserved the spotlight. But i think Karachkova is not suited to play WD. I noticed everytime she hold her racket, it was always low, not at a ready position like what Vislova and the rest of them were holding. However, Karachkova's partner was holding her own also, making some nice cross court shots. Both pairs played their best, but at the end, the consistent pair won the match, in 2 very tight sets. And Vislova was the only double winner for the night. MD - Nothing really surprising. Tony & Halim really came out with a purpose and just want to end the match as quickly as they can. Both of them setting up each other for some serious hit downs. Esp. Halim, wow Howard must be wondering if it was him doing the hammering-down, hehe I also wonder, what if Ivlev was to partner with Durkin?!?! Eventhough the Russian coach was yelling instructions to his 2 players, it has no effect. After a tight 2nd set, at the end, the vast experiences of both Tony & Halim really took its toll on the young Russians. All in all, the Finals was fun, but for me personally, it didn't have that sense of the dramatic. As the expected winners won and vice versa. On that note, this U.S. Open could be the last one Tony Gunawan will play in. Anyways, i will divide the pics into several posts. Hope you all don't mind as i took quite a lot. Enjoy- BTW, did anyone watch the live webcast of the Finals??..I took a pic of the camera area where they shot the games in one of these pics..Oh, the 1 pic below which shows 2 gentlemen standing, it was part of a special presentation given to one of the IBF member.
No worries, very few people can return Halim's smash. I know I couldn't. And even if I could, I'm sure Tony would be there to cut if off.
