this guy tianmin houwei could be the next chen long in the making.... china has physically strong players these days....
78 kg at the age of 21... not exactly light! This guy definitely has tremendous potential. As with everything else, there are so many variables and factors that will finally decide if he makes it to the top echelon -and remains there for a significant while. Meanwhile, it will be worth following his career path.
Just watched the AO MS final. This guy is super quick. I've never seen a guy so quick including LCW and LD at their prime or the smaller players like Shoji Sato. He is really gifted in this area.
So i just watched some of the AO MS final and MS semifinal and honestly, and i'm not convinced about THW just yet. Yes, he is quite quick, precise footwork and i think he is naturally athletic guy. He seems pretty strong as well, especially at his age. LD, BCL, CJ and CH looked no where near as solid at the same age. He plays a pretty quick game, lots of drives and pushes with an above average smash. With all that said, the first thing i noticed about him was that he is extremely raw. There is no finesse in his game at all, which i believe you need in todays game to be successful. Over time that can be trained for, aka CL and LD. Especially CL who was very similar in styles when he started out as well and he really learned that "control" part of the game over the years. Smashing, driving and pure speed will only last so long on the pro circuit, he 100% needs to add that other element to his game, which i'm pretty sure his coaches are going to do. The thing that kinda "bothers" me with him is that he doesn't fully open up his shoulders when he plays his overheads and this is especially noticeable when he goes for his around the head shots. I mean i guess it works for him and has got him to this level but i'm surprised it hasn't been corrected for. Due to the shoulder rotation thing, it seems he has very little overhead deception. Furthermore, he doesn't seem to have a flexible upper body (very mechanical swing), especially his wrists. That's not to say his wrists aren't strong (they look extremely strong) it just seems like they are always locked into one position and thus it gives the impression he is forcing shots off his racket which again goes back to the deception topic and can potentially affect his shot variety. I'm not trying to take away anything from this guy as he did something very few people can claim, but it think it's way too early to label this guy the next superstar. The potential is there, he just needs to put it all together. IMHO, he is a young CL right now. In terms of rawness, body type and style. Hopefully he goes in the same direction as CL. BTW, can someone confirm is he really only 178cm? From the video's he seems quite a bit taller and plays a big mans game too. Thanks
In terms of finesse, Xue Song will take it Tian Houwei has a fast and powerful but non-aesthetically pleasing style of play If you watch his footwork and strokes its not as beautiful as Kento Momota or Xue Song who have cleaner and smoother movement around the court
lol do you know what you're talking about? LD and the rest probablhy as well are way more solid then THW is now. LD was already ranked world no 1 and one of the best in the world.... THW is no where near.
Tian Houwei is a member of Chinese team for the Universiade 2013 held in Kazan, Russia. http://kazan2013.ru/ru/st_events/schedule#http://kazan2013.ru/hide/en/-240/Participant/ParticipantInfo/cc3fbba9-6cc0-490b-897f-2d79b0715937 So far so good ) Although dropped one game yesterday versus Lucas Corvee, France.
He has just won the London GP Gold 2013... [TABLE="class: ruler matches player"] [TR="bgcolor: #F8F8F8"] [TD="align: right"][TABLE] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD="align: right"]Final: Houwei Tian[/TD] [TD][CHN] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD="align: center"]-[/TD] [TD][TABLE] [TR="bgcolor: transparent"] [TD][DEN] [/TD] [TD]Hans-Kristian Vittinghus [2][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD]22-20 21-16[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
Tian Houwei won 2013 London GP Gold . Thank you for informing us. Let's hope THW can win more tournaments. .
. Hey limsy, I have been busy lately - Sorry that I didn't get to play at our last BC PAW Game (PAW #191 – 2013 Japan Open SS). Will we get a PAW Game for this Dutch Open GP? .
who is the next king? tian(wjc 2009) is one year younger than wzm(wjc 2008) wang zheng ming won 2 out of 54 tournaments tian hou wei won 2 out of 19 tournaments head to head against chinese ms main rival - lee chong wei wang zheng ming 0-9 lee chong wei tian hou wei 1-0 lee chong wei
Tian Houwei's results . We can always depend on limsy when we need statistical data. However, IMHO, the sample of data is rather small. Let's keep following Tian Houwei's results at more tournaments to come. .
I think Tian HW is actually 2 years younger than WZM. He was injured in 2010, the year when Axelsson won the WJC.
