At the post-match courtside interview, Zhao Yunlei was humble enough to express that there's still room for improvement in her game, she would go back and work on it and hoped to do even better in future.
Result of this Dubai SSF 2014 It is not bad that ROW won 3 titles and CHN just 2 despite the latter's overwhelming representation in all events with the maximum 2 players/teams, except MS. Kudos to ROW and the 3 different countries that won the following titles: WS - TTY (TPE) MD - LYD/YYS (KOR) WD - MM/AT (JPN) May 2015 be a better year for ROW and fans like us. Just hope that Dato LCW will not be penalized too harshly and return to challenge the MS.
Very good results. Very nice to see that WS was so wide open this SSF. The win of the Japanese girls was great too. For MX it was not good to have a all CHN final, but ZN/ZY would have won this against everyone I believe. I hope 2015 continues with new players coming few (esp. from ROW). Let´s see whether China can get their domination going again or not TTY was a joy to watch. GC said it a few times. She plays like Federer in tennis. So effortless and tricky, and more effective and self-confident than Intanon whose playing style also looks very smooth. A little sad that SWH had to retire. Another player I love to watch and he proved that he can challange CL. But Srikanth and Vittungshus provided a good show. Still CL will be the one to beat. Hopefully LCW won´t be sanctioned too hard and we will have some classic CL vs. LD vs. LCW matches in addition to the other mentioned challangers Very happy for Lee/Yoo to win a major title to get their confidence in big matches back, at least partly I´m also very interested in how the Korean, Chinese and other countries WD and MX combinations for the qualification period will look like. Will there be some changes or not? A lot to look forward to
Azzam's youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0qOoxVup5gz-lMXjLQZAIniy1EvpGgKr but still waiting on the MD and WD finals. Currently only G2 of MS, WS and XD matches. Not sure why the delay on bw.tv site on the links to the matches.
Top seed conquered final day! All top-seeds in SS Finals were out as champion, WS is exceptional as Wang SX has tumbled on group stage. MD final was match of the day, displayed thrilling game and spent longest duration 84 mins. Chai/Hong almost nailed it but vast experienced and consisntent Lee YD/Yoo YS stayed calm and turned the table to grab second set. At decider, KOR pair was relatively easy to seal the match when they pulled out all the way with big margin before the Chinese duo closed the gap narrowly until 16-19. Chai Biao produced lots of errors at deciding game while the steady KOR pair was back to their game plan. This MD match should be arranged as last match instead the opening match of final day. WD, kudos for JPN pair, they played right tactic with brilliant defence and attacking combination against below par Tian/Zhao. Zhao YL created many mistakes yesterday and less sharp on the net. Matsutomo/Takahashi eliminated the more fave opponent in straight-sets. MS, the high confidenced Chen Long started game 1 with the attacking style as usually he's a slow starter. Vittinghus tried everything to balance his opponent skill with good smashes and couple of rallies but that's not enough to stop Chen L as game 2 was one way traffic, the Danish player commited many uncharacteristic errors while the World Champion didn't waste his chance to grab 10 points in row and won the trophy. I noticed, second time Chen Long grabbed so many points after interval break, against Kenichi Tago, from 7-11 down and he took game 1 with 21-11 that's amazing! WS, Tai TY outplayed Sung JH with her creative and deceptive shots and practically the Korean couldn't develop her style of play as she had no idea how to block this TPE talent. A second title of the year for Tai after HKG Open last month, glad to witness new young star emerged as winner of big event. XD, The Chinese couple class is above of their junior compatriot, third SS Finals title after 2010 & 2011 for Zhang/Zhao. Dubai Finals ended this year season, hopefully we'll see more interesting competition in 2015
In the original order of play, the WD was the first match and the XD was last. (It was supposed to be: WD - WS - MD - MS - XD) This is also because Zhao Yunlei was in both the WD and XD. It's customary to allow a two-match rest interval for anyone who is in two events. In a very late development, Dubai royalty decided to turn up on the final day. However, the BWF was told that the royal family members would stay only for a short while. And that's why the MD was moved up - to showcase the game's speed and power. Good move, I'd say. Imagine if it had been the WD
I only wish "American Royalty", sorry America has no royalty, is available to support our game and then US corporations may take an interest to change the 'backyard game' into a 'Royal Challenge', fit for the very best audience.
On a whole, this tournament turned out to be a successful one despite being a non-badminton nation. What a crowd!. I felt the cheers similar to that of cricket. Fantabulous environment ,... kudos to organisers... and kudos to DUBAI. We hope to see a seperate "DUBAI BADMINTON ASSOCIATION" in the near future. WELL DONE GUYS...
Oh yeah, but I heard overwhelming support only for Indian players. Maybe Dubai has many more of Indian migrant workers than those from other countries. Understandably even Indonesian workers were visibly absent because of the absence of INA players in the final stages. But despite CHN players being featured in so many matches, Chinese support was hardly audible. Is it that relatively fewer Chinese work in Dubai. The first two days were rather quiet, maybe because many had to work. But where are the locals and white collared workers?
Your view is absolutely wrong.. Definitely, you dont have any idea about who came to watch (white collared or blue collared or pink collared). So, if at all, blue collared workers came to watch the sport, what's wrong...?. Anything wrong to sport?... Nothing at all... Many friends of mine are IT proffessionals in Dubai and even they have gone to watch their favourite players playing the game.... Really wonderful to see the magnificient crowd who gave their time to watch their players especially SAINA and SRIKANTH . Kudos to them..
Don't be mistaken. I did not say it is wrong for blue collared workers to watch badminton. The more fans go to watch the merrier and good for badminton. It is good that your IT friends went to watch and I hope more white-collared workers and school children will do so. Since you claim to have a good idea about the attendance, can you tell me how many people attended on each of the 5 days? And what is the capacity of the stadium?