What I'd like to see is a slow mo replay of Ahsan's footwork and coverage of court, especially the forecourt. He was like he was supercharged and was moving at 1.5x normal human speed. The Danes were quite simply overwhelmed.
they played really well...only started their partnership in a short period...they were like koo/tan when they first started their partnership. As time flies, they will get figured out by the other teams, I just hope they would not turn out like the malaysians.
i agree, i also worry about that.... but i think they are different from Koo/Tan's case. Koo/Tan rely on power... meanwhile, they have no discipline. it makes them decline bit by bit Hendra/Ahsan rely on drives. even they can turn a "defensive mode" to "drive mode" they dont need to move fast here and there. Hendra dictate the tempo. can play fast or slow. as long as they stay working hard on training, they will be OK. and of course, the mentality shold be ok too. Ahsan is still hungry of some titles, it is good.
If only Hendra didn't get stuck that long with Kido during their post-Pelatnas career. And... it is really unfortunate that Ahsan wasted many years of so-so pairing with Bona.
desire and hunger it will take time for others to catch up and study+try to beat them. so try harder now before others catch up
I think Hendra/Ahsan will still dominate until Asian Games 2014. after that, Hendra will be 30 yo. but i know that Hendra is still hungry for Olympics. Luckily, he is the playmaker, not the smasher.
Heey... Cai & Fu were +/- 32 & 29 y.o. when they won dat OG gold. Not young anymore (one of them is already a dad, if I'm not mistaken), yet their smashes & netplay were awesome as hell. If Hendra/Ahsan are able to maintain hunger & discipline while keep perfecting & adapting their tactics to counter their opponents, well, keep your fingers crossed
Big congratulation to my favourite pair Hendra/Ahsan!! Wish to see many more titles to come.... from the male version of Monster (Wang/Yu)
Hopefully they dominate for a long time to come, their style of play for me is much more pleasing than the usual lift smash lift smash game the Chinese (barring LXL/QZH) and Korean's display.... Playing at such lightning pace is a sight to behold
Have you guys noticed? Hendra/Ahsan hasn't ever lift or clear, they'd rather suicide and hit into the net than lift
It's amazing that Ahsan using Arcsaber fb which is super light but able to generate so much power in his smashes. Same to Ratchanok.
During training it's probably been drilled into them that for every lift they have to do 100 push ups as penalty. And Mogensen too. Proves that the racket doesn't matter as much as the player wielding it. (Although we won't know if those are just paint overs. )
Its amazing that Hendra/Setiawan is so successful as a partnership. Whats the secret that makes them so formidable and able to win?
I think we are seeing the next dominant style of play which is great for badminton. Liu/Qiu’s style is similar but I find their attack is slightly better than their defence and they seem more consistent than Ahsan/Setiawan – but they would probably get better as they play more. I have to say this new pairing has been the biggest recent surprise for me. It’s refreshing to see how good this pair are and how different their style of play is. The more I watch this pair play, the more I am convinced this will be the dominant style of play for years to come. Unlike other pairings where there’s usually a strong rear court player paired with a fast and smart front court player, with Ahsan/Setiawan they are both relatively equal in most areas. Both are equally good at playing at the net and while Ahsan struggles a little with sustaining heavy rear court smashing, he is accurate and fast. Both have great disguised rear court drop shots which they mix well with cunning smashes. Whilst others rely on a heavy rear court smash to create an opportunity for the forecourt player, A/S’s style of play seems to neutralize that style to some extent by introducing a lot of flat play and varying the speed of their attacks with many cross court shots. By not lifting the shuttle (unless absolutely necessary) they prevent their opponents from getting into that conventional attacking formation and stops the big smashers from doing what they do best - pounding down the smashes. This is significant drawback to the likes of Fu, Ko etc where they are unable to unleash the big smashes and I’m sure A/S know that. I am most impressed by how clever (and fast) their play is. Setiawan seems to have an uncanny ability to read the game extremely well, know where the gaps are and is deadly accurate. He is such an astute player and I think Ahsan gives him that confidence to do that, more so than with Kido. I genuinely believe that when this pair are on form, there really aren’t many that will be able to stand in their way, now that JJS/LYD are no more. Tactically Qiu/Liu are probably the only pairing I feel can stand up to them now unless others can respond and change their tactics.
