INA vs JPN -- 10 May (Sunday) The first match of the Sudirman Cup, so, I believe INA will field their best players. However, when I look at the names of the Japanese players, I am quite surprised not to find Shizuka Matsuo (Noriyasu Hirata's partner), Shuichi Sakamoto (Shintaro Ikeda's partner), Ai Goto and Hirayama Yu (their best WS players). Instead, I do find (surprise surprise) Reiko Shiota, Sayako Sato, and Mayu Sekiya. XD: Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir vs (possibly) Shintaro Ikeda/Reiko Shiota -- INA should take this one against any pair that JPN puts up. WS: Maria Kristin Yulianti vs Mayu Sekiya or Sayako Sato -- based on ranking, INA should take this one. MS: Sony Dwi Kuncoro vs Kenichi Tago or Sho Sasaki -- a tricky one, esp if Sho Sasaki is being fielded. Nevertheless, Sony should beat either of the two players. WD: Meiliana Jauhari/Shendy Puspa Irawati vs Satoko Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda -- this is the one pt that I believe JPN can win. MD: Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan vs Kenta Kazuno/Kenichi Hayakawa -- a tricky tie also for the World and Olympics Champions. But, I believe they can deliver the one pt. INA to beat JPN 4-1. As for INA vs ENG, the scoreline should be either 3-2 or 4-1 in favor of INA.
INA vs CHN will be on 14 May (Thursday). So, plenty of time to ponder on team selection issues. If the best players are put, INA can at most win 2 pts only (from XD and MD). If INA chooses to rest its best players and give their bench-warmers a match, expect CHN to win it 5-0!
well, i think INA will have to field our best players during the early rounds against JPN and ENG like badMania said... but on the 14th of May against CHN, since INA's chances are always slim, i dont see why INA wouldnt field our 2nd team players like Simon/Tommy, bona/ahsan, and fran/pia...jst to test and predict how much damage these players can cause CHN team...and to rest the stronger players for the semis against korea/mas
Indonesia will not play their best team against China if they win against Japan and England in group 1A to determine who win this group. Cause even if they used their best team, they will lost. Better to save energy and prepare the best team for semifinal. Then they can fight nothing to lose in final. Japan will much tougher to beat than England cause their weakest point only from XD. meanwhile they Japan will win 1 point from WD. But Indonesia will win point from MD and MS. For WS, if Maria is 100% healthy and in her best form, she will also win.
Hmm, wonder why Japan only bring their second best players to Sudirman Cup? With these players, they will lost even to England. Even Hong Kong who did not had any chance to win this CUp fielded their best players. A major let down for Japan fans. So I change my opinion. Japan was the weakest team in this group after saw the players list.
I do think Ina has to play Markis/Hendra cause the WD is not a sure point here. England can play Donna Kellog in WD. She was a very good WD and experience WD player combine with any team mates. Eng can suprise our WD . So playing Markis/Hendra is for a guarantee.
Err.. Pia didnt join ina team this year, fran will partner with lilyana or shendy, and i hope fran can make our xd more strong in this Sudirman cup! Go INA!
INA must win over ENG and JPN as two crucial matches at group-stage to secure semifinal spot. And nothing to lose situation against CHN as last match in subgroup 1B to determine winner & runner-up position.
Let the chess match, players lineup strategy...begin!! ..well, to put it mildly, they are indeed the "best" players HK can afford to field. Perhaps they don't have much in terms of depth of players (younger/junior)??
Markis/Hendra has bad records against English MD.....beats me why. Having said that I doubt ENG can steal any point excepts for XD. Even if DK is playing WD, her partner is nowhere near her level to be a significant threat against Mel/Shendy or Greysia/Nitya.
