Can LD win in INA territory?(Has he?) Probably not.The atmosphere would be too humid to LD's liking. BCL likely to fare better than LD in TC.
i can't believe i haven't voted on this till now.
gotta say, despite everything, it's still advantage to CHN, they have just too much strength and depth in their MS.
If you look at previous Thomas cups by Indonesia, they won because the doubles were rock solid. China's singles were also supposed to be solid but fell down. Look at the ones played in HK 1998, KL in 2000, China 2002. Three singles were supposed to come up trumps. However, only one loss in singles and your whole tactical game plan comes falling down.
Indonesia couldn't maintain their dominance in men's doubles which let China win in 2004.
INA won 5 Thomas Cups in a row between 1994-2004 because even though we were theoretically weaker in MS than CHN, we always had world-beaters such as Ardi Wiranata, Heryanto Arbi, Hendrawan, etc. who had the firepower, skill, experience, and mental determination to beat anyone in the tournament. They were either All England champs or World Champs. The other countries also fear them...
Err, I would beg to differ. 1994-1998, INA was clearly superior individually and as a team, CHN was in transition.
Can LD win in INA territory?(Has he?) Probably not.The atmosphere would be too humid to LD's liking. BCL likely to fare better than LD in TC.
Interesting factor, humidity and CHN MS performance. Even LD hasn't passed any INA, MAS or SIN Super Series q-finals over these 15 months. Didn't compete in INA last year and MAS this year. Best result was Bao Chunlai's runnerup finish in INA.
But I would expect Li Yongbo to send his players for conditioning early so that they are well prepared.
He is known as anti INA players from beginning....he would argue you to death....
thats absolutely Incorrect. Taufik is very gracious in defeat and does not question linejudges with the frequency of say LD.
bad call favour to him vs PSH in MO 08
the same thing with the incident in MO 08, but this time in AG 06 SF vs LCW, when the score 20-18 or 20-19 for TH.
in AG 06 & MO 08, he know that it was a bad call favor to him, but he decides to ignore it.
thats absolutely Incorrect. Taufik is very gracious in defeat and does not question linejudges with the frequency of say LD.
Please do not let you patriotism towards your own country morph into bias against other countries players.
BTW. This is Off topic...please return to talking about TC predictions.
I heard stories like this: when asked who wanted to play the #3 MS, who most likely will determine the outcome of the Thomas Cup finals, when most players hesitate in accepting such a big burden, Ardi [in 1994 or so] and [later] Hendrawan [in 2002] would voluntarily step up and say "Put me in the game, I will do it!" They did so with pure joy. Did you guys remember the kind of show Hendrawan displayed in 2002? Pure joy, I tell you. These INA MS looovvveeed the challenge.
It is a good point -- Chinese singles had not done well in MO or IO in the past probably because of the humidity. Hence, I think it will not be easy for China. For that same reason, I think LCW will do well and hopefully the rest of the team maybe motivated to excel.