but he wasnt happy before and after the match Image © AFP Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia returns to Bao Chunlai of China during their mens singles second round match during the All England Open Badminton Championships at The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, central England on March 10, 2011 BIRMINGHAM, (AFP) - Angry Lee Chong Wei walked out without talking to journalists after being given little warning of his impending second round at the All-England Open championships on Thursday. The defending champion from Malaysia was given little more than an hour's notice of his 10 a.m. match with China's Bao Chunlai, and was obliged to hurry from his hotel and compete without proper preparation. The upsetting preliminaries made it all the more creditable that Lee achieved a 21-16, 21-16 victory over the dangerous Bao, who came within one point of reaching last year's final. But there was a payback at the end of the match when Lee brushed past waiting media, giving the impression that he would return for post-match interviews after receiving physiotherapy. He never did, which prompted an All-England spokesperson to make a statement defending the harrassed champion's hurry-in, hurry-out routine. "In the circumstances we quite understand why he was not able to fulfill his obligations," he said. "But we will be reminding him what is necessary to do to help the tournament." Lee's movement, even without proper warming up, was excellent. So was the variety with which he took the attack to Bao, a hard-to-read left-hander whose switches of direction and angle were hard to read. Lee looked an even more complete player than while winning the All-England title for the first time last year, putting the shuttle emphatically on the floor when Bao lifted and cleared short, and tremendously quick in the mid-court exchanges. His biggest moment of danger was when Bao reduced a six point deficit to two at 16-18 in the first game, at which stage the Chinese player failed to get a tumbling net shot over, and followed it with a service return into the net. Bao also closed the deficit late in the second game, but his performance confirmed the impression of last year, that he has the talent to succeed at the highest level but that here there may have been a slight failure of temperament. Earlier there was also a hint of controversy when both the all-Chinese women's singles failed to materialise. Top-seeded Wang Shixian was given a walk-over by her team mate Liu Xin, who complained of a fungal big toe. Then Wang Xin, the third-seeded world runner-up, was also allowed to pass into the third round without wasting any energy. This time her opponent was Li Xuerui, who is ranked seven places below her colleague, and in this instance the ailment was described as a bad back.
It's great that LCW still managed to win . It's great that LCW still managed to win. What I am concerned about are the Walkovers given from CHN players to other CHN players. It's just terrible for us Badminton fans and followers; when we wish to follow some of the paths taken by CHN's better WS players. .
Yes, as fans and followers it's terrible but we have to understand to be competitive, it means everything counts, it includes cheating our opponent with our skills, observe their weak points and also work as a team to get the freebie pass to the next round
Does anyone know when the R2 schedule was set? It seems uncharacteristic of the AE committee to overlook such a detail as notifying a player
I remember looking at the tournament software page after all the R1 matches had been played(past 10pm). And there isn't anything on the R2 schedule. So, I won't be too far off by saying that the R2 schedule was set on that day itself. So, it you were to notify someone who plays at 10am on that day itself, that's going to be a challenge. The AE committee is very unorganized this year. Only update the tournament software page a day before the qualifying matches at around 11pm. You can rest assure that this doesn't happen in a football match.
in the early rounds they can only do the schedule after all the matches finished for the day. to decide which matches to be on the show/TV court, also for some players play in 2 events to give them enough time between matches
http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2011/3/11/sports/8235968&sec=sports Chong Wei beats Chunlai to check into quarters PETALING JAYA: Defending champion Lee Chong Wei checked into the quarter-finals of the All-England badminton championships but the title continued to remain elusive for Indonesian old-timer Taufik Hidayat after his challenge came to an abrupt end in Birmingham. Yesterday, Chong Wei underlined his superiority over Bao Chunlai of China with a 21-16, 21-16 win in a 42-minute second round match. The win extended Chong Wei’s proud record of having won every match against the former World Championships runner-up since 2007. Up next for Chong Wei will be the winner of the match between Lee Hyun-il of South Korea and Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand. A day earlier, the Malaysian blew away France’s Brice Leverdez 21-9, 21-11 in just 24 minutes. Coach Tey Seu Bock was happy with Chong Wei’s cool and composed manner in packing off the lanky Chunlai yesterday. “Chong Wei was mentally prepared to face Bao and played the right tactical game. He never gave Bao any room or opportunity to retaliate,” said Seu Bock in a telephone interview. “Bao was in good condition but he was at a loss and did not know how to play against a focused Chong Wei. We hope that our sole Malaysian singles player will keep up his momentum.”
http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Badminton_AllEnglandChampionships_LinDan_ChongWeithroughtoquarters/Article/ Badminton/All England Championships: Lin Dan, Chong Wei through to quarters KUALA LUMPUR: Olympic champion Lin Dan and World No 1 Lee Chong Wei booked their places in the quarter-finals in comprehensive manners, but world champion Chen Jin of China was sent packing from the All England at National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham yesterday. Lin Dan, who had criticise the poor lighting in NIA on Wednesday, secured a 21-11, 21-17 win over Dionisius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia in the second round. He will play Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam, who beat another China shuttler Du Pengyu 21-18, 21-15, in the last eight later tonight. Chong Wei, who almost missed his second round match against Bao Chunlai due to a scheduling error by the organisers, was calm enough to overcome his old China foe 21-16, 21-16 to claim a spot in the last eight. He will be involved in a tussle against Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana, who eliminated Lee Hyun Il of South Korea 22-20, 21-12, today. However, Chen Jin was not fortunate as Chen Jin was brought downto earth by Germany's Marc Zwiebler with a 21-18, 22-20 win. "I didn't expect to lose," said Chen Jin. "But I was not in good form today. I don't know what happened. I played really bad especially with my overhead shots." Meanwhile, ginatkiller Kazushi Yamada, who toppled former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in the first round, also continued his impressive run with a 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 victory against China's Wang Zhengming. His reward is a quarter-final clash againts Zwiebler and the winner of the match looking forward to meeting Lin Dan in a likely semi-final match-up tomorrow. Danish veteran Peter Gade Christensen, 35, was also in fine form as he put last year's runner-up Kenichi Tago out with a 21-9, 22-20 to book a quarter-final berth against Chen Long of China. Chen Long received a walkover from Thailand's Tanongsak Seansomboonsuk in the second round.
http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/47HAM/Article Narrow escape for Chong Wei LEE Chong Wei was almost knocked out of the All England due to an error in the tournament schedule but the defending champion managed to arrive at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham on time to claim a spot in the quarter-finals yesterday. Chong Wei, who only found out that he would be facing Bao Chunlai of China in the first match at 10am (UK time) despite the organisers giving a different schedule on Wednesday night, did well to beat his rival 21-16, 21-16 in 42 minutes. BA of Malaysia (BAM) general manager Kenny Goh, in a telephone interview from Birmingham, said the tournament secretariat's printed schedule had stated that Chong Wei was to play the fifth match of the day but the Malaysian camp's foresight to check the official website early last morning saved the shuttler's campaign. The organisers were said to have tried to reach Chong Wei at the hotel just an hour before the match but the shuttler was already on his way after knowing the changes early. "We were given the printed schedule by the tournament secretariat on Wednesday night and it stated that Chong Wei would be playing the fifth match with the second round beginning at 10am. Luckily, we checked the tournament schedule again on the tournament website," said Kenny. "The website stated Chong Wei would be playing the first match and we subsequently checked with Chua Soo Hock who is the tournament referee and he confirmed the change. "Chong Wei left in time for the match and fortunately, his performance against Chunlai was not affected. It would have been a disaster if he had stuck to the original schedule that was given to us. "Although the change in schedule was published on the website, I'm surprised that we were not notified although we were supposed to play the first match." The episode had some effect on Chong Wei who played with caution but he remained calm to snatch a comfortable victory in the end. A visibly upset Chong Wei didn't attend the official press conference held later and rushed off after the match. The organisers were in no position to complain as their grave error almost led to Chong Wei being shown the All England door. Chong Wei is expected to meet either Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand or South Korean Lee Hyun Il, who were involved in a late second round encounter last night, in the quarter-final clash today.
Oh ok, it's not the organisers didnt inform, they changed the order of play. LCW was supposed to play the 5th match, then they changed it to 1st match. Then next morning only inform the change
That's what Berita Harian says, using the word 'sabotaj', trying to poke fire. Kenny Goh said no sabotage
whether sabotage or not, LCW pass the test with respectable result hope he wont let some hiccup to derail his title defence....
They should not change the decision suddenly without the player's knowing. What if LCW slept till noon? Since mas and uk time is 8/9 hours difference.. What a poor organization.
Kenny Goh say to press good thing early morning they check. I think they cant sleep much, so go online, surf the net,check TS, lol. A few times I saw some of the players post in FB 3am Europe time still cannot go to sleep, cos that's working time in Msia.
LCW looks pretty comfortable with the new VT80. His cross-court smashes are as good if not better than before.
