Darren plays a lot of backhand with some varieties... drop, smash, the hold... but most important rarely a clear... Anyway, congratulations and keep up the good work
The Star Online > Monday October 29, 2012 Daren makes breakthrough with Super Series title triumph By KNG ZHENG GUAN PETALING JAYA: National elite shuttler Liew Daren finally achieved the breakthrough he badly desired by stunning Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 21-18, 21-17 in just 42 minutes to win the French Open Super Series yesterday. That victory ensured the 25-year-old Daren’s first major title in the international senior scene. It was a sterling performance from Daren considering the fact that in the past he always choked when it mattered most. But the KL-born shuttler has been in tremendous form in Paris. He found his mojo in the famous city and defeated higher ranked opponents such as Sho Sasaki of Japan, Hu Yun (Hong Kong) and Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark) en route to the final. And the lanky Daren, with his confidence soaring high, got off to a best possible start against the former world junior champion by winning the first game 21-18. Although Axelsen showed some initiative to force a comeback in the second set, Daren was not to be denied as he sealed his first major victory crown winning 21-17. This win could also mean a new beginning for the shuttler as it is a good sign that he is stepping out of Lee Chong Wei’s shadow, Malaysia’s and the world No. 1 ranked player. Daren, however, was speechless over his win. “I’m really happy right now because I can’t believe that I actually won. I’m quite speechless at the moment,” said Daren when contacted in Paris. “I want to thank all those who had been supportive of me throughout these years … especially my coaches. “Most important, I also want to thank my parents. They were not here to witness my first win so this is for them.” National singles coach Rashid Sidek praised Daren’s performance and believed that it is the kick start he needs in his career. “He really played well and his performance was something to be proud off,” said Rashid. “No one expected him to win but he did just that. This is the start he needs to go on and become even better. “For all the years that I’ve trained him, this was definitely one of Daren’s best ever performance,” added Rashid. Meanwhile, in women’s doubles, Ma Jin-Tang Jinhua delivered a double Danish misery by beating top seeds Christinna Pedersen-Kamilla Rytter Juhl 21-12, 23-21. http://thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2012/10/29/sports/12240680.asp&sec=
well..well..he is the man of the moment...so i think at least i need to say something and hope can say more in the future in this thread... i remember years back i did comment about him and the comment is not well taken by some... anyway thats past.....he did what i hope he can, win something BIG that he can be proud of.... and hope more to come......as said, we as fans wont gain anything from it....
you guys get public holidays when a player of your country won?? thats very lucky! but i've never heard when LCW won, malaysia has public holiday or else everyone in this forum will at least mention it
congrats, DL!!! What a superb performance.. He made sure that the podium is represented by a malaysian after LCW decided to skip this tournament.. Hope he can do well from now on and keep improving so that he will be a threat in ms after LCW retires... I saw his interview after the prize presentation, maybe he should bring a translator next time as he doesn't have a clue on what the interviewer asked. He keep nodding and i thought he understood but in actual fact, he don't.. poor guy, doesnt get to explain how happy he is when he got interviewed. the interviewer had to answer to his own question, that was a funny scene... Well, DL has to learn how to deal with all this interviews n press from now as he will have the chance to stand on the podium again and again.. Once again, congratulation!!!
Great game by Liew Daren on Semi Final against JOJ and against Viktor Axelsen in the final. Gillian Clark has mentioned few times and i myself have witnessed the similarity between Liew Daren style of play and LCW. It is not a surprising since both of them are sparring partner. Liew Daren has to improve on its serving shot since a couple of times it hits the tape, & his backhand especially crosscourt lift backhand. Liew Daren often push the shuttle flat when he is about making a net shot and the opponent will have to quickly change direction from moving forward to backward and have to play a lift, this time, Liew Daren will smash hard and most of the time it will give him point. What is quite interesting is that this is the typical of the shot that give Lin Dan a winning point against LCW on 2011 WC and give him mentality advantage on 2012 OG when the shuttle hit the tape and drop on LCW court when Lin Dan about to execute the push on the 3rd set OG Final. Not to mention the tendency to play cross-court net shot and the tendency to reiterate opponent cross-court net shot with another cross-court net shot, this is the typical exchanges between Lin Dan and LCW. In my opinion based on Liew Daren performance on those matches, he is LCW main sparring partner in BAM HQ, good to him, he is deriving result this time which i did not expect but i am very delighted. Some people think that deriving result in 25 years old is quite late, but to me it is still better than 26 and so on. Hope he is consistent enough when facing Chen Long and other CBA MS.
Well. I do agree Liew Daren has the skill and weapon of Lin Dan and LCW. DL has made a drastic improvement espeically on his smashes. Last year I have witnessed most of his smashes went outside the line but now he has improved a lot in this area. But he still need to improve his legs strength, his stamina and of course his defense... . His defense looked a bit fragile ... If he can improve in these 3 areas, then he can maintain his consistency in tournaments and by then he will be ready to challenge any of the top players ...
For the next 6 months, DL's target should be to beat consistently, Hu Yun , Sho Sasaki, Santoso,Sony, WZM, Nguyen, then only he would be ready to challenge Chen L and Dupengyu. Forget about LD and LCW, these two are close to retirement and even if they are around, their stds are too high to achieve. So be pratical. make sure DL is good enough to be above those 6 and then he can be a threat to CL.
Interview with Daren Liew in late 2011. Guy knows his priorities! (And was very prophetic about achieving a "breakthrough" after the Olympics.) http://www.badminton-information.com/liew-daren-interview.html
Both Daren and CWF are LCW's main sparring partners, but CWF being left hander,I suppose it is different Hopefully both will make full use of tips and sessions with LCW, there is little time left.
This player Daren Liew has still got 3/4 years of good badminton left in him. Hope he can win some big tournaments like super series, asian games, thomas cup or qualify for world next.
He should focus on getting Gold Medal in OG 2016 ! Achieving something that LCW can not achieve ! No point to live under the shadow of LCW !
Congratulations Daren! I saw that attempt at an interview too and I think it was the interviewer's fault. Surely Daren knows some English to answer simple questions. After his victory while he was packing his stuff at the sidelines, a French official came up to him and spoke briefly to him and Daren nodded his head and acknowledged what that official was telling him. It appeared the official was telling him about the prize-giving ceremony. The official could not have been speaking French, Malay or Chinese with Daren. Why I say it was the interviewer's fault is that the interviewer asked the question in English first and followed up immediately with the French translation of his question. He then directed the microphone to Daren for a response. This clearly confused Daren as Daren either thought the interviewer expected him to answer the French question, or more likely, the French translation of the question made Daren forget what the question was or made him lose his train of thought in formulating his response. This is easy to do when the interviewee is not fluent in the language he is trying to answer in. I think the interviewer should have first asked the question in French and then translated the question to English for Daren. This way, immediately preceding his answer, Daren would have heard the English question. This would have helped a lot for someone who in the first place was not fluent in English. Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS to Daren and I hope this motivates him to do even better. He can play a few more years after both Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei retire. So when the two greatest male singles badminton players the world has ever seen retire, the field will be wide open for the race to Olympic gold. Whether it is 2016 or 2020, Daren has a chance. His chances might actually be better in 2020 because LD and LCW will definitely not be there. If LD and LCW do not compete in Rio de Janeiro, then Daren will have two decent opportunities to win Olympic glory. He will have to be focused and train like he has never trained before and sacrifice like he has never sacrificed before. Avoid all worldly temptations for the next eight years and Daren may very well be Malaysia's first Olympic champion ... and be living on easy street after that. Good luck Daren!
