I don't think the h2h has much impact now. HokiKoba are not the same as before. They are now the real deal.
I know, but no one wants to have 0-10 win lost record against the same opponent, especially after them getting silver at WC by beating top seeds beforehand. It'd boost their confidence to some extend, I believe. Surely, I still hope minions will play convincingly & make the h2h to 10-0
I think the arena in China is always the slowest. Maybe I'm wrong. But I saw several matches held in China, they were obviously slow. Even without the information from the commentator about the drift etc, I could tell it was slow. For me, the highlight was when minions played rasmus/astrup at wtf last year, almost like a match in WD haha.
Minions' road is very hard as hell. They can possibly meet these pairs. R1 - HokiKoba R2 - Ko/Shin, Choi/Seo QF - Han/Zhou, Boe/Conrad, Goh/Tan Minions have to meet either improving and on fire pairs or troublesome pairs. Oh, if minions really face Boe/Conrad in QF, PREPARE FOR WAR!!!!!!!!
I think the hall for korea open is the slowest, still remember when they lost to boe/mog 2 years ago in the final.
WTF was in Guangzhou. I don't remember what city this S1000 in. S750 is in Fuzhou. No idea where they all are on the map though lol. But should be different conditions every venue. I thought last year wasn't that slow iirc in this particular venue. But I could be wrong. Nonetheless it should do good for minions they should have more experiences playing in slow halls.
Regarding someone who asked about how the outsiders think about Marvin, here's my take: Marvin is very popular in my club, may be because I mostly interact with people playing MD. We talk a lot about how fast and skillful the Indonesian players are, especially Kevin. Undoubtedly he is the fastest man in the circuit. Coming to Marcus, he has a good game awareness and good understanding with Kevin but I feel, of late he lost his agility and more importantly his smash power a bit. As Steen said, he struggles against the players with good defence and in slow courts. I have seen people suggesting that pairing of Kevin and Fajar would do wonders but imo, pairing of Kevin and Ashan will be great and they can beat anyone in the world.I still think Ashan has a good 2-3 years left in him and his variety of shots from back of the court is second to none but it's not practical now to pair Ashan with Kevin as Hendra and Ashan are doing wonders. May be after Olympics . Play hard. Train harder.
I think Kevin is an enigma, a one in a million player that has both graceful and attractive to watch, especially his lightning fast reaction. Regardless of what he achieved, I believe he is the face and the future of badminton for the next several years, just like how Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi is in soccer. I believe in badminton in my opinion the player with similar aura to him is Lin Dan (although certainly Lin Dan has much more achievements compared to Kevin)
I like the name Marvin because it feels like a superhero name from Marvel films Play hard. Train harder.
Many would love to see Kevin/Ahsan pair in real competition. So far we could only see them in Djarum Supaliga, but not enough competition locally to see their true potential as a pair. However, I am afraid INA team is most likely thinking to pair Kevin with someone aiming for Olympics 2024. Unless they think Ahsan is still good to go for another 4 years.. Haha it just felt like a different cartoon character all together. Weird..
Kevin gotta change his playing style a little bit for that pair to be successful. need to learn from hendra how to control the tempo better because ahsan can't cover anything like gideon if kevin goes too much for these 50/50 chances. we'll see what happen after the olympics.
Kevin and Hendra have two different playing styles and skill sets though. I think both Kevin and Ahsan need to work it out themselves of what will work for both of them. Kevin changed his playing style to make this partnership with Marcus work and it has been successful. If you compared Kevin from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 he has changed and grown a lot during these past few years, making up for what the pair is lacking. Kevin in G3 against Choi/Seo, he hardly made 50/50 chances shot. He knew it wouldn't work, because it didn't when he tried many back in BAC final against Endo/Watanabe.
I'm sorry if this is repost. Or this post a little late because we are heading to China Open. This interview with Herry IP is done about a week before WC. He saw marcus was too eager to get the title. He suggested to marcus to take it easy like any other tournament. I think this interview can give some light to why marcus did what he did in the match against korean. And I suggest PBSI to use sport psychologist to assists athletes (spescially marcus) in the next major tournament.
damn what a harsh life for Marcus.. He is one of the most successful MD player in recent years, won titles and prize money left and right yet people always treated him as some kind of liability for his partner, an old fragile player and a mental midget.
What do you mean a harsh life? He is making his own life difficult. All he needs to do is to take it easy, just like the coach said. Though I know it's easier said than done, when you are thrown to the real situation it's do or die in a sense. It's like we know we can't be panic when we encounter a bear, but when we actually encounter a bear we will be panic anyway and do stupid stuff.
Thanks for giving another insight for my question. Regarding kevin/ahsan pairing (in real tournaments, not in superliga), I'm almost sure it won't ever happen. I really wanted this kevin/ahsan pairing to happen, especially after minion's horrible defeat from endo/Watanabe, but it doesn't seem possible since ahsan now is an independent player. If he decides to go back to the national team & leaves hendra alone (after their mutual agreement to play independently), it's like he backstabs hendra, the one who 'lifted' him up. Instead of Alfian, I actually prefer for a younger & pure attacker player to be partnered with Kevin in the future, especially if the coaches want to project Kevin for Olympic 2024. We have daniel marthin, an AJC champion, but he seems doing well with his current partner in junior, Leo. So let's wait & see. But whoever his partner will be, like Morten & Gill once said, Kevin's skills would make them to be a top pair.
Haha, for me even though I was dissapointed with Gideon's performances several times before, and wished another partner for kevin, it was just an instantaneous reaction. I still put a trust on him tho, at least until Olympic next year. I believe a therapy session will help prepare his mental, like it was successful helping Tontowi Ahmad to rebuild his mental games before Rio 2016. But talking about after Olympic, a fresher player certainly will be a need for Kevin. He can still play at Olympic 2024, he'll reach 29 y.o by then, but still probable to play. While for Gideon, it's almost no chance he'll be able to play in 2024 judging from his form right now. So later, the topic about who's gonna be the next kevin's partner, will eventually be discussed.
