Yea,that's why I'm thinking there probably isn't a second MS player that can take over from him yet. Which is good for him in the sense of prolonging his career,but also it may not be good for the long term as there will be a lot of pressure on him. Maybe he is the best at home,but I don't know yet if it will translate to being the best internationally. I think for the other categories China is on the way to being dominant except for MD and MS. I think fans will be understanding if the new MD pair takes time to grow and deliver results but Shi Yuqi has been around for a while so I think fans may have higher expectations from him. Hope he can overcome the expectations and pressure. Sent from my SM-A307GN using Tapatalk
Wrong stragey from chinese coaches. They should not have field shi yuai against viktor. In this mode shi yuqi will definitely loose against him. That will hurt shi yuqi's mentaliy which is already down due to the loss to vitirdarsan.
I think they have to field him because he's the only one in the Chinese team who has a chance to defeat Axelsen,even if it's a small chance. Hopefully his past loss will motivate him this time. Sent from my SM-A307GN using Tapatalk
But if he had been rested, he will be fresh minded in the semi final. This loss will affect him more. Also considering about the thomus cup they should have given matches to di zijian & wang chang
Oh right,I forgot that he's still playing after this. Well,his loss to Axelsen is not that bad,he still managed to score some points,just not enough. I think China is pretty much just relying on their female players to win for them though at this point. They are lucky that their women players are relatively strong. Sent from my SM-A307GN using Tapatalk
Chineese coaches should focus on two 18 years old liu liang & dong tian yao because apart from li shifeng, most of other chineese second tier players are not showing any potential.
China fielding He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong for the MD. Not particularly impressed with That's performance over the tournament so far, would have liked to see a combination of WLY, ZHD or Liu Cheng instead
I think the CHN coaches as well as the KOR employed coach know something we don't. Perhaps, they can redeem themselves?
YES, He Jiting/Zhou Haodong redeemed themselves beating the JPN pair in the Sudirman Cup Final opening match !
Good job by HJT/ZHD. If CYF secures the second point, there will be a lot of pressure on KM, which should hopefully work in favor of SYQ
Chen/Jia is always fun and entertaining to watch. Good for them, once again being the key to beat JPN team in 2017 and 2021 edition of Sudirman Cup.
Will be interesting to see the combinations for the MD at the Thomas Cup. MD1 could be once again HJT/ZHD, or maybe they go with Liu Cheng/WYL, which has worked well on some occasions in the past (Winning 2017 national Games f.e.). Should be worth a shot despite both of them probably being more effective from the back court. Wang Chang played well during the National Games, pairing him up with ZHD or either WYL/LC should make a solid MD2. With Japan's top MD pairs retired, Indonesia out of shape and Denmark scrambling for combinations, China has good chances of winning this Thomas Cup once again, despite not fielding their Olympic silver medallists in the MS, MD and XD.
I think this year TC will be the most open for a long time. I’d put Denmark as the favourite, followed by Japan, Indonesia and China (in that order) Because of the depleted squad of most countries, India, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea have a chance of medaling (or even winning).
For this edition of Thomas Cup '21 (originally 2020,postponed), realistically I don't rate China's chances as frontruner, at most among the top three favourites, even then probably just behind the other two teams, whoever they might be. It's clear that China is sending their Team B, in the absence of Chen Long, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen, and even Zhang Nan (though he has yet to announce his retirement), and among those in the squad, most of them are young and inexperienced as well as making their debut in a world team championship. To be honest, how they handle the pressure of the burden of expectations is a question mark. Just think, only Shi Yuqi has big-match experience, and MD Liu Cheng who is without his usual partner, Huang Kaixiang, to a lesser extent - the rest are practically newbies at a world team championship. Even SYQ is not totally out of the woods yet. When even mature, experienced top echelon players and pairs who have made appearances in the team majors before are still vulnerable to jangled nerves more often than not, what more the novices. I note that on the Thomas - Uber Cup thread, forummer sonnymak wrote the following: " In 1976 Malaysia send a group of young and untested under achievers . They beat a Denmark team full of All England Champions and Future world champion. Sven Pri warned his teammate not to underestimate the Malaysian youngsters . They have history on their side. It happened again in 1988 When Malaysia beat Indonesia in the semis which was a mixed of young and old." Well, all I can say is that such examples are too few and far between, just look at the dates and how far apart. First, in 1976, that's 45 years ago; the second time in 1988, 33 years ago ! The exception proves the rule.
