Chinese Badminton

Now showing the replay of Chen Yufei vs Han Yue http://www.zhuafan.live/1563348.

Isn't that Wang Zhixian co-commentating?

After the WS Final is the MS Final. Stay tune.

 

As far as I understand, the National Individual Championships is an annual affair, unlike the National Games, a multi-sport event held once every four years and , therefore, much more prestigious. You just have to look at the lineups for both, it's obviously not of the same standing.

I also don't think they would combine both events and use the qualification rounds of the CNG as the national championships - doesn't make sense to me, just like the Olympic Games is different from the World Championships. CMIIW.

 

I think that Zhang Nan's motivation has waned and it became more obvious when his new partnership with the tall , robust Ou Xuanyi hasn't worked out very well, falling short of expectations. In hindsight, he might've done better with Huang Kaixiang had he picked him instead for despite HKX's average built, he is, in my opinion, a smart, thinking player more or less in the same mould as the vastly experienced ZN, only less so in this regard.

In other words, I just felt that having two players of quite similar characteristics, both physical and mental, can be a good fit too, a possible alternative to the more normal view or belief of having two players of dissimilar characteristics to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses or limitations is the best way to go, theoretically speaking. That (referring to the normal mainstream belief) is not necessarily so as there are always exceptions, and this could be a case in point, hypothetically speaking.

I mean, Huang Kaixiang and Liu Cheng's combination is sort of based on a similar line of thought with HKX playing Zhang Nan's role whilst Liu Cheng is the big smasher a la Ou Xuanyi. However, I must qualify my statement that though I think having a ZN/HKX combo might be a good mix, it does not follow that I would necessarily subscribe to the same thinking that having two big guns capable of fast and furious attacking game as their main tactic would work out just as fine for I believe we still need one of them to be the more strategic player to do the setting up or creating opportunities for the partner to unleash his firepower. Well, the HKX/LC combo hasn't done much better or worse than the ZN/OXY combo - of course, you can argue that's because HKX is no ZN, not on the same level, but you get my point.

To sum up, I'm of the opinion that having two intelligent, creative players as a pair is more advantageous than a pair of basically hard-hitting, all-guns firing kind of combination as it's apparent to me that both ZN and HKX are also largely all-round players, and such a combo might also, by exception, possibly form a better combo than a pair of players with complementary skills. A case of one plus one equals more than two, so to speak.

Who knows, Zhang Nan and Huang Kaixiang may or might just click as a pair - alas, probably too late for that to happen now, I suppose; a what-if, a remote possibility unless the 31-year-old Zhang Nan does a Hendra Setiawan who at 36 is still going strong.

 

Indeed, Sun Feixiang stunned Lu Guangzu, but in the final, he couldn't prevail against Lei Lanxi, whom, to me, was a surprise package as he narrowly beat Li Shifeng in a come-from-behind victory in the decider when two-matchpoints down in the semifinals.

In the MS title bout, Lei Lanxi rose to the occasion, his superior stamina enabled him to lift the crown from Sun Feixiang in a tense three-set battle where after dropping G1, 19-21, he then went on to reassert himself with relentless pursuit to down SFX in the next two sets, 21-13 and 21-12 in a spurt of energy.

All I can say is, apart from Chen Long and Shi Yuqi, the top two in CBA, the rest are of the national players are generally lacking in consistency, and, for most of them short on experience as well.

As for SYQ playing the MAS Open, I'm not sure if he's registered for the tournament as I thought after the IND Open from 11-16 May,due to the 14/21 days quarantine requirements, he might not make it for the MAS Open held 25 -30 May, and, therefore, he could only participate in the SIN Open 1-6 June after that. Let's see.

For sure, I certainly very much wish to see him at both the MAS and the SIN Opens.

 

Wow, Lei Lanxi trained by the grand old master, Tang Xianhu, who still has a thing or two to impart to anyone who's eager and smart enough to acquire at least some, if not all, of his knowledge and skills. As we know, Lin Dan is the greatest beneficiary and most illustrious disciple of The Thing (TXH's nickname).

 

Except for WD where at this stage, there's only one CHN pair left, Chen QC/Jia YF, who has to win tomorrow's semifinal against the KOR Kim/Kong for a place in the final. That's because of the bronze medal match play-off between the two losing semifinalists.