Ok with end of these November tournaments it's pretty clear LD is again here. No malaises, no injures, no china coaches .. LD beat all in HK like in every other year except 2010 when I was in the hall.. Later no kind of cowardice meeting CL in the COF. And even CL tried to do smth, 2 sets killed his hopes. Still there is unwavering feeling LD is able to beat anybody if only sport criterions are on the board. No coaches and no walkovers. Is this a picture for coming Olympic 2012?
I said before LD is hibernating, now the time to get serious and gradually peaking for OLY12 and to secure that 1-2 WR.
Easier path to the gold, assuming LCW, CL and LD are clearly the best three players. If Lin is 2nd in the rankings, he has to win only one of those two. If he's 3rd, he has to win both of them.
Dassad, see Jajvirta reply...Jajvirta is one smart Finnish dude Also if CJ is in OLY12 and WR4, then he could be in LD half. So, if LCW got tired out and beat CL in one SF, LD would have easy SF with CJ, and well rested for final
I get to this from another side - look at OG2008 if it was so important to him where and whom to play with? When he is LD he just wins.
LD in OLY08, I had posted loooong time ago, was LD all time best performance (too fast, too fit, too powerful, too focus, too everything) and might as well handed him the gold biscuit without playing the final. LCW confessed he was clueless how to play LD in his post-game interview LD is still the player to beat in OLY12. LCW has been WR1 and SS king for a few years, I worried he peak too soon and how to sustain that pace and pressure till OLY12 starts. Right now LD is gradually peaking and he does enough to beat LCW. Wait till OLY12 starts, that would be LD sayonara swan song and you can bet the entire nation of Israel and all the pretty chicks too that LD would be well prepared and play all out to win the gold. He may not reached his OLY08 form but the focus, preparation, etc would be there LYB and me would agree with you that who care who LD faces in the SF as he could beat out everyone he faces, but why risk it? Why chance it when you can fix it to have some advantage in the SF and be fresh in the final, after all, CHN needs that gold more than all these individual SS titles
Just imagine that OG2008 was one the first tournaments and first LD performance I ever seen! Regards risk I just can recollect teams (in football and so) tried to trick in qualification rounds to get weaker rival in next round and finally getting somebody really hard to play..)
OLY08 LD-LCW game, you have just seen one of the most incredible badminton match out there and in high defination. Then you should watch U-tube AE1990 ZJH-JS which is very comparable to OLY08 in domination by 1 player in the final of a major tournament but you can see the magic, out-of-the-world-shots, techniques that LD in OLY08 cannot produced. Check this video out, download it and play, rewind, maybe some luck you can pick up some tips.
thanks for link regarding LCW I didnt meet him then yet - so I just thought LD killed in the final one more badminton player.. )