Day 3 matches (plus analysis)

kwun

kwun

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The heat is building up in the 2005 edition of the Sudirman Cup.

The 3rd day we will see two head-to-head clashes of the titans: China vs. Indonesia, Korea vs. Denmark.

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]China vs. Indonesia

China is undoubtedly the favorite to win this Sudirman Cup. their superiority in the WS, WD is unquestioned. and they are equally strong in all other departments. Indonesia is sure to lose both WS and WD. however, that doesn't mean a sure doom for INA. they have in the cards reigning Olympics Champion Taufik Hidayat, former world champions Sigit/Candra, as well as Singapore Open Champion Widianto/Natsir. they will have to bank on winning all 3 of these ties to beat China. is that possible?

Taufik has the upper hand on the Chinese #1 Lin Dan, winning their only encounter in recent years in Indonesia Open 2004. Lin Dan will surely want to prove his world #1 status in front of the home crowd.

Candra/Sigit has regrouped (again) after the Olympics, and have slowly risen back to their former form. at the top of their form, it will be a tall order to beat the former world champions.

mixed doubles may turn out to be the crucial match of this tie. Widianto/Natsir has been doing well, getting to the later stages of recent tournament. on the other hand, neither Zhang/Gao nor Chen/Zhao are in their top form lately. head-to-head indicates that they are 1-1, 1-1 against the INA respectively. and they have lost their most recent encounters. it will be a tough choice for the Chinese coaching staff to decide whether to field Zhang/Gao or Chen/Zhao. i would want to be in his shoes.

Denmark vs. Korea

Both reigning Sudirman Cup holder Korea and Denmark have a very even team. Denmark has an upper hand in MS with an in-form Peter Gade, while Korea has an upper hand in WD.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]With the retirement of Camilla Martin (DEN) and the absense of Jun Jae Youn (KOR), both team will be fielding their second best WS player. likely candidate will be Tina Rasmussen vs. Seo or Lee Yun Hwa. an unchalanted display by Lee Yun Hwa yesterday may mean Seo will be fielded.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Denmark has in their hand the reigning world champion and friends of Badminton Central Rasmussen/Paaske who hasn't seen any action so far and Eriksen/Lungaard who has been in good form despite their age. Korea has their trump card of former world champion and Olympics Gold Kim/Ha. after testing the water yesterday with Ha playing with Yim, will Korea field Ha/Kim in this crucial tie? Yim display yesterday was uninspiring with many unforced error, still a few miles away from what the venerable Kim Dong Moon can achieve.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mixed doubles will be another interesting and crucial tie. Denmark has two possible pairings. The 2005 AE finalists and friends of Badminton Central Thomas Laybourn/Kamilla Juhl has been doing well lately getting to the Thai and AE finals and winning the Danish nationals, while experienced but aging pairing of Eriksen/Schjodager are also very strong despite lost to Roberton/Emms in the group match. Korea has been keeping the mighty Kim/Ra away from everybody. Rumors has it that they will not be playing together with Ra playing with Lee Jae Jun. There are unfortunately very few pairing in the world who can beat Kim/Ra. Is that just a smoke screen?[/font]
 
I bet Kim and Ra would have wanted revenge on Jonas and Rikke. Pity that Rikke is injured and Jonas is sidelined for mens doubles only.

I think the most interesting tie would be Denmark vs Korea

I'll stick my neck out Korea 4-1 or...;)
 
Indonesia will not put Taufik to play today.

They will try to win the semis by resting most key player
 
Prediction:

China vs Indonesia - 5-0, Indonesia will rest their top player

Korea vs Denmark - 3-2, Korea will win MD, XD, WD but lose WS and MS.
 
Qidong said:
Prediction:

China vs Indonesia - 5-0, Indonesia will rest their top player

Korea vs Denmark - 3-2, Korea will win MD, XD, WD but lose WS and MS.
Click to expand...

if Indonesia is indeed resting their players, then it will be a rather boring match. i wonder what funny lineup they will put forward this time, IIRC, i remember in the TC they field Marleve Mainaky in doubles. historically, China has always fielded their best players on these potentially crucial ties.

i have the same prediction for Korea vs. Denmark. however, it will be a close one and may tilt the other way very easily.
 
Actually, the Group 1 matches today are not that vital even though they may be clashes of titans. Even if China lose today, they will yet go on to win the Cup.

But in Group 2, today and tomorrow are both equally vital. As only one team can progress, whoever (Netherlands, Malaysia, Japan or Singapore) wins twice will advance to Group 1. One can say that today is the semifinals and tomorrow the final.

Equally vital is the relegation battle in Group 1. The team (Hong Kong, Sweden, England or Thailand) that loses twice in a row will be dropped to Group 2. So, losing today will be a step towards the drop.
 
The only tie of interest now is between Singapore and Japan.

I watched part of the first set on tv before coming to work, and it looks like both pairs are about equal. The Singaporean man, Saputra, is more stable than the Japanese, but the Singaporean woman is the weaker one.

The match is tied one games all, in the rubber game now.
 
Singapore take the first point.

Next up:
Ronald v Sato
Li Li v Hirose
Wijaya/Kendrick v Masuda/Ohtsuka
Jiang/Liu v Ogura/Shiota

The singles should be split although Sato is more likely to cause an upset than Li Li. Japan should take the WD. That means the MD is the all-important match.
 
kwun said:
China has always fielded their best players on these potentially crucial ties.
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Actually if LYB rests the top players, I think the 2nd team still have a great chance of beating Indoesian's #1 team. Look at the 2nd team's line up of Bao, Zhang Ning, Sang/Zheng, Wei/Zhao and Chen/Zhao. China will get 2 sure points from WS and WD, and the other 3 matches and all 50/50.
 
no analysis between malaysia and holland? It is the deciding match that will determine the group winners..

I believe that malaysia will take the mens events easily, with LCW and KKK/CCM winning mens doubles easily, KKK/WPT should take the Mixed, and i hope that Mew Chew should hopefully beat Mia Audina :D
 
I believe that malaysia will take the mens events easily, with LCW and KKK/CCM winning mens doubles easily, KKK/WPT should take the Mixed, and i hope that Mew Chew should hopefully beat Mia Audina :D[/QUOTE]

the pressure again will be on the women to deliver. the mixed is very important, either team win this tie will have higher chance to advance to final, let's see.:cool:
 
KourKK said:
no analysis between malaysia and holland? It is the deciding match that will determine the group winners..

I believe that malaysia will take the mens events easily, with LCW and KKK/CCM winning mens doubles easily, KKK/WPT should take the Mixed, and i hope that Mew Chew should hopefully beat Mia Audina :D
Click to expand...

We don't know the lineup yet, so it's a bit hard to analyse. But generally, I agree with what you said. Malaysia to take men's events, Holland to take women's events, and we'll see who takes the mixed event. The facts that puts Malaysia as slight favourites are:

1. Malaysia favourites to take XD.
2. Malaysia more likely to cause upset in women's events than Holland in men's.
 
I cannot see LCW or Hafiz (depending on who plays) to lose to the dutch mens, and i dont see KKK/CCM losing to their doubles pair. The gulf in quality is too great between them i think.

Im hoping the women have some tricks up their sleeves!!

good luck to malaysia!!!
 
Just checked the Malaysian line-up and they are fielding WCH in the MS! :confused: Surprise? Sounds to me like they are planning for the Group 2 final already and saving LCW. Would kinda backfire if they didn't make it.
 
madbad said:
Just checked the Malaysian line-up and they are fielding WCH in the MS! :confused: Surprise? Sounds to me like they are planning for the Group 2 final already and saving LCW. Would kinda backfire if they didn't make it.
Click to expand...

Hmmm ... I honestly believe Dicky Palyama is not easy to deal with.
 
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