i would argue that today is worse for china fans than it is for malaysia fans. who would have thought china losing 3(!!!!!!!!) of it's best mixed doubles pairs in one day. i remember before the wc's everyone was saying how china was almost guaranteed a gold in this category as they have so much depth! i guess not.... to be fair, they lost to the 1st, 6th and 7th seeded pairs, so they did play some very good players. not a good day for china mixed doubles (lyb mainly) but a wonderful day for denmark, especially nielson/pedersen (congrats!) who destroyed the olympic bronze medalists.
It is a curse for China's XD. They never won a gold in XD for a period of 8 years after 2001. The last time they won a XD gold medal was in 2001 and the winner were Zhang Jun and Gao Ling.
yeh. one loss I wouldn't be too surprised (being Zhang Ya Wen/ Xie ZB) but those 2 STRAIGHT-SET losses to the Danish pairs as well?? I simply cannot believe. Even an all-chinese WD SF doesn't quite fully compensate for this...
the most interesting xd i've ever watched just now..juhl/laybourn vs zheng bo/ma jin..absolutely amazing danish xd saves two match point to seal the match
Eermm.. ..i wasn't one of them who guaranteed a title for CHN in the XD. I did foresee all 3 of them reaching the Semis, though. The way i ranked the CHN XD pairs going into this yr's WC: 1. Yu Yang & He Hanbin 2. Ma Jin & Zheng Bo (i know, i know, people tend to use their winning trend) 3. Zhang Yawen & Xie Zhongbo 4. Chen Xu & Zhao Yunlei
Aha! This time we have the same opinion. Although ZB/MJ won many titles, I also still think HHB/YY is the real Chinese No.1 XD.
^^We've had..^^ ..roughly the same opinions all along on many topics/issues..Just the way & degree we express/convey our point across..
Same here. ZB/MJ won most titles during the time YY was injured or under performed. Also, ZB/MJ made the name more or less due to the fact they beating LYD/LJJ multiple times. Overall, they still have a long way to go. Sadly, XZB/ZYW's golden age was long gone, and I can see this might be ZYW's last WC for both WD and XD. If both ZB/MJ and HHB/YY continue to under perform, I really wonder if the pair of ZB/YY will be coming out of the surface again.
i'm sure there will be more experimentation and juggling XD players around by lyb before the 2012 OG.
Not trying to give excuse, but I never thought the XD gold will be a sure thing for CHN, especially if you compare that to WD or WS. With 3 pairs in QF, that already proven the depth, as no other nation can easily accomplish such. Yeah, it took me a bit by surprise that none of the 3 going to Semi, especially HHB/YY, but if u look at YY's recent health, MJ's expereince (yeah, she did won some titles), and XZB/ZYW's opponent (LYD), then it's not too hard to know why. Overall, LYB surely needs to have some HW to do, and I think ZYW's days are soon to be over, sadly to say.
Watched some of the china XD losses. Generally the China women are very strong but I think this leads them to not control the play in the way many of the european pairs and koreans do. Instead of maintaining the attack with man at front at all costs they are frequently in weaker positions. Also 2 of the top pairs (english) withdrawn so the XD was quite open.
ZB will fail again, no matter paired up with YY or MJ. Think about Sang Yang, Zhang Jiewen,....and the Gao Ling! I hope I were wrong but sadly, history will repeat.
ok, maybe i shouldn't have said guaranteed a gold in this category, but too see not a single china pair in the semi-finals, let a lone finals is a big surprise. actually, ZB/MJ and HHB/YY are pretty close. you guys need to remember that ZB/MJ have been together for less than a year, where as HHB/YY have been together for almost three
i see what you mean by pairing them together, but would you rather have one crazy ass strong pair or two top 10 pairs? it's all about depth!
Whenever there are Lily-Nova and LYD-LHJ in the competition, only blinded CHN fans will think an XD title is a sure thing for China... These 2 non-CHN pairs have been winning World Championships and Olympic Medals in the past 4 years... Unlike the WS category where China's dominance and depth is more apparent, the XD category is very much up for grab! In general, I would rather have one crazy ass strong XD pair... Depth is surely a major issue in Thomas Cups and Uber Cups... but in individual competition, having one ace player/pair is a huugggeee advantage. INA had Taufik Hidayat in 2004 and 2005 that can win Olympic gold and World Championship... We were happier having one TH compared to DEN who had Peter Gade and Kenneth Jonassen in the top 10...
Due to the level of the female players, and the power/speed of the male players, it's an easy task for team China to produce 2 - 3 top 10 pairs (This holds for both XD and MD). What matters is whether they can produce a real No.1 pair.
Actually, in my eyes ZB /MJ is the real no 1 pair in the world. They have been the most consistent over the past 9 months and have won numerous SS + beaten LYD / LHJ 5 or 6 consecutive times. They just need to play more tournaments.
