Lin Dan seriously realising that the era is not weak anymore. He rarely gets past the first to 2nd rounds in the last couple years. It's very telling, given his "main rival" during his era didn't even win a single proper major (World Champs or Olympic Gold). Now it's a strong era and it's showing. Anyway, will check these great forums again around the World Champs period later this year perhaps. Have fun!
The era wasn’t weak earlier as well. His supremacy made it look weak Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What a morning ~ Ginting won, Daddies sent packing by the Taipei pairs. Counting on Fajar Rian and Ginting next ~
Yeah, when Ginting won against LD, the last two games were so convincing. Next, he will face his nemesis, SYQ. Hope he can score his first win against SYQ.
The era was quite weak, it only had some mediocres like LCW, CL, Taufik, Peter Gade, etc compared to todays era (God Momota, King SYQ, Prince Ginting, White Dragon Axelsen, etc)..
LD’s supremacy started when these guys Taufik, PG were on their way down. Before that, LD can’t compete against Taufik. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Taufik is a true talent and LD really struggled against taufik in the early days. But they are only 2 years apart in terms of age with a H2H record of 4-13 in favour of LD. They were contemporaries, I dont see how u can argue that LD beat taufik when he was past his prime...
SEMIFINAL (12.00pm) => https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/...37C55D-4533-47A9-AEE9-EE0F996F1F5B&d=20190316 A mouth-watering MS semifinal clash as expected will confront Shi Yuqi and Anthony Ginting, the number one player from their respective countries, coming from same generation in junior stage. Still fresh in the memory, the Asian Games duel last year when Ginting got cramps in marathon match and retired at the end. Never won in five previous encounters, interesting to wait whether Ginting could break the jinx this time. Shi powered past Mark Caljouw, 21-17 / 21-9, thanks to the Netherlands many unforced errors in second game while Ginting dropped opening game, 14-21 against the aging Lin Dan who couln't balance his opponent movement in long rallies in next two games, losing meekly, 21-8 / 21-11. Lin still insists to secure Tokyo 2020 Olympics which offers grim prospect considering his continuous deteriorating form. On bottom-half draw, the Olympic Champion Chen Long shows his prime physicality to eliminate the inspiring Subhankar Dey and will take on another Indian rival Sai Praneeth. Coming to Basel with brimming confidence as All England champion, Chen Yufei safely through to final four and will face Sung Ji Hyun once again, replay of last week quarters. A limping head to head stats that the more experienced Sung only won once of eight enconters, happened in their first meeting three years ago in NZL Open GP Gold. Since then Chen had developed rapidly while her Korean opponent tends to be stagnant. A stamina and endurance test for Chen to meet Sung who's known for her strong fitness. The other semifinal tie will pit Zhang Beiwen and Japanese youngster Saena Kawakami. In doubles categories spark several upsets, Spain Masters champion Lee Y/Wang CL storm past Ahsan/Setiawan and will see another vast experienced combination Kim GJ/Lee YD. On the opposite draw, Indonesia hopefuls Alfian/Ardianto will meet Rio bronze medalists Ellis/Langridge for a final berth. Women's doubles top contenders Chen QC/Jia YF also sent packing by compatriots Li WM/Zheng Y and get Japanese pair Matsuyama/Shida whilst the familiar names Chang YN/Jung KE and Stoeva sisters facing off each other. 2017 World Junior Champions Rivaldy/Mentari stun English established pair Ellis/Smith in three games and will have tricky opponent, TPE new partnerships Lu CY/Lee CH. Meanhile China duo Lu K/Chen Lu meet the unheralded Danish rivals Bay-Smidt/Soby. The Chinese duo edged out Christiansen/Pedersen in gruelling match, sad conclusion for Christina Pedersen who ends her dazzling badminton career here. LIVE TV COVERAGE
Well, LCW most certainly was a significantly weaker and less athletic player during the Olympic final 2008 era, than ten years later. Also, no peak Chen Long until about 2012. It's a little bit of both, if we're kind to Lin Dan.
The truth is not many can have a fairytale ending like Natsir playing in front of your home crowd. Maybe 1 in 1000. Not even Pedersen or ZYL. Maybe LeeYongDae had it in 2016 but he was WR1 anyway and he continued playing. Maybe not even LinDan.
