i hope so... but according to recent progress taufik has been increasing his ability and manage his emotion which was a problem for him in the past... so if i'm not mistaken, taufik has solve his problem in the past and also support by his skill and strenght, i think he can increase his rank to be number one after the WC.... well.. it's just a hope from nobody
lin dan still has many years to improve and be the best, afterall he's only 21, taufik and gade, they're 24 and 29 (?), they dont have as much time, I'm sure by the time they retire, lindan will teh the #1 with no competition from any current stars...
Just hope that Lindan will not get into any injury. It is still exciting to watch Taufik , Gade and Lin dan plays.
Lin Dan style requires alot of physical abilities while Taufik play is more technical and I doubt Lin won't have any competion
Im just saying if all the badminton stars of today that's older than him retires he wont have real competition except from new age players (todays generation)
really? Do you forget that he got trouble when Lin dan faced sony dwi kuncoro at Sudirman Cup. sony were just begin in that time after the long injured, eventough, he gave such a tight match with lin dan... so please welcome the other future king... let's the party begin after gade and taufik retired...
Players' age A check reveals that both Lin Dan and Bao Chunlai will be 22 this year, Taufik Hidayat 24, Lee Chong Wei and Muhd Hafiz Hashim 23, Sonny Dwi Kuncoro 21, Chen Hong 26, and Peter Gade 29. So, Taufik is not much older than Lin Dan and by the next Olympic, he will only be 27, which could be his prime age! Watching Taufik's matches recently also reveal that he is increasingly more mature and calm in his approach to every game. That's why he managed to beat Peter Gade (his nemesis previously) 3 concecutive times this year. Each match is tight, but, he somehow managed to prevail. He also basically had Lin Dan under his control in the Sudirman Cup final till the point when he reached set point in the first set. Then, Lin Dan got a lucky break and win the set eventually. That's why I think I will still rate Taufik slightly above Lin Dan currently. In terms of World Ranking, Lin Dan will still be the 1 after the WC because Taufik didn't really join the European tournaments early this year due to injury problems. I have great hopes for Sonny and he already showed that by securing the bronze in last year's Olympic, but, his injury also sets him back for most of this year and he has to start from scratch.
Future stars As for future stars, watch out for Chen Jin (19 yo, WR 48, last year's junior World Champion) and Gong Weijie (18 yo, the runner-up) from China. They have only started competing in the senior's tournament but have already shown good results. Chen already scalped victories against his seniors (Chen Hong and Xia Xuanze), while Gong won against Peter Gade in China Open last year.
that thing about the 70% in the star is probably a misquote from here: http://www.intbadfed.org/Portal/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=10&ItemID=1818 If that's true what taufik said in the star about only putting in 70% than he's lying. Think about it: If taufik was only running around at 70% of his max pace and smashing with 70% of his full effort and placing the bird with 70% of his full accuracy he would be playing like a complete tool, some high school level players could beat him. What might make more sense to say is that hong only stretched taufik to 70% of his max capacity to win in that game, and taufik could have beaten chen hong even if hong was on his top game. I'm glad taufik beat ld btw. Although I think both of them are cocky sob's, I believe taufik is the better player overall and should beat ld most of the time. Like someone said earlier if he's at the top of his game taufik is the best player in the world.
As I mentioned earlier, I used to dislike Taufik even though I am an Indonesian myself. Yes, no doubt he is certainly gifted with the best skills among all the young players few years ago and he has shown his credentials much earlier than Lin Dan, ie: final of All England when he was 17, semi-final of WC when he was 20, etc. However, it was his cocky attitude and bad temper on and off the field that somehow make him a less complete and likable player, compared to lets say Hendrawan. His conflicts with PBSI further resulted in his loss of form in recent years, till before Olympic last year. It was the victory at Athens that somehow transformed him into a more matured and IMHO better player! I agree that at the top of his game, nobody (including Lin Dan) can beat him! As to Lin Dan, yes, he's cocky too and his immaturity + overconfidence led to his humiliation in the first round of the Olympic last year. I think over this 2 years, we have seen that Lin Dan could crack under great pressure.
with taufik's smoking & drinking habit, it's very amazing that he can beat gade, lindan & chen hong. yes, he is cocky. i second badMania comment.
I am surprised that Taufit smokes. If he does, then where does he get the stamina. Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide which robs oxygen from his body.
we had dinner + durian at geylang (singapore) just few months before the olympic. within 2 hours, we counted that he smoked around 1/2 pack.
If what you say is true, then Taufit's teeth will have stains and his mouth will be foul-smelling. Also this is his weakness-lack of stamina. There is no way a half pack/2 hrs smoker will have the stamina for energy-sapping games. I am surprised his opponents have not jumped on this weakness.
We can see how tired he looks when he's playing. His facial expression looks almost like he's about to faint.
Do you know any other professional players who smoke? I see some people who smoke in my badminton club and they are usually the people who get tired REALLY fast. I don't see why people would want to smoke. It is gross and disgusting.
There's a rumor claiming that Gade is a big smoker too. Anyways, I know some people who smoke but still had a very good cardio maybe Taufik is one of them.
Lol I think all players who smoke should get banned. Lol. Maybe the tobbaco has some kind of effect on their play.
