All pairs lift non stop to minions, but minions still win in the end Not sure if Hong Wei wanted to come back to the team, I think he is coaching his club. But it would be a pleasant surprise if suddenly Hong/Zhang popped up. No hard feelings between them I hope.
As you can see with the current #1 and #2 in the WR, you don't need a super hard smash to win. I think HCK would have some potential with ZN, it's not like he can't smash at all.
Realistically they likely wont split up HCK/ZHD, what about Huang Kaixiang (who is currently playing with Wang Zekang without any impressive results)? He had a good run with Wang Yilyu last year, beating Ahsan/Hendra, Endo/Watanabe among others with comfort. In fact, they only lost to Chinese pairs in 2018. I say let LC teach the young one and pair ZN with HKX.
"here, this is how you fluff a shot above net height in the mid court. Next, let me show you how to prepare in defense so you'll definitely be caught off-guard. Alright, for the last part, here's how you select your attacking shots so that you'll get countered despite playing with one of the best net players in the world!" That's too harsh, but I couldn't resist I'm not sure he's the kind of guy to teach young players a lot. Doesn't seem to be either a cerebral player or someone with an exceptional winning mentality. I'd pay CY to teach young players over him any day of the week, for example...
It's true that you don't need a super hard smash to win, but you do need an effective smash at the back. And a hard smash is perhaps the most reliable way of achieving an effective smash and creating opportunities. The standard of defensive skills among the top professionals have slowly improved over the past decade and so if you want to be the best, you're going to need a strong smash in the pairing. The problem with LC is not that he doesn't have a hard smash, it's because other areas of his game are weak and inconsistent. His smash is not too dependable either because although it is hard, it is not consistent or accurate enough and lacks variation. I personally think Gideon has a pretty hard smash which without a doubt gives them an edge. Sonoda's smash isn't too bad either but certainly not super hard - which is why they always try to play flat or look to counter. HCK is a pretty good all-rounder, but definitely better in the forecourt than he is in the rear court. If he were to partner ZN, against most pairings they will do well I'm sure, but against players that do not play much flat exchanges and preferring to lift and counterattack, they may struggle. I personally don't think this would be a good world beating pairing, it would be a waste of their talents. ZN and HCK are kind of similar, not just the way they play but also the way they seem to think. Intelligent and clever players that China should pair with equally strong rear court players so they have two very strong pairings. They just haven't found the right talent in the rear court for them yet.
For Indonesian Open Zhang Nan is paired with Ou Xuanyi Liu Chieng is with Huang Kaixiang Good choices!
Who is Ou Xuan Yi? I am happy with the new pairings. Should ve done this at the beginning of the year. Wasting ZN's precious time.
Ou Xuanyi is currently WR22 in MD. He is very tall and powerful. A bit like Hong Wei and Xu Chen. Pretty decent MXD player too. Last chance saloon for HKX though. He had many partners now and made no impact so far.
Oh the one who partner Ren? I never can remember which one is which. Looking forward to seeing how the new pairs are gonna perform.
I remember watching ou/ren playing against fajar/rian at the AE, one of them really caught my eye that time. don't know if it was ou or ren though. hopefully this partnership could work.
Oh really? That's good. I thought the 1.89m tall Ou Xuanyi at the rear court is a better choice than Huang Kaixiang, who is not bad too but he's more of a front court player, if I'm not wrong. A lot of catching up to do for these two new partnerships. Should've done it much earlier, I guess they were still considering Liu Cheng's feelings then until it becomes clear he and Zhang Nan's partnership isn't likely going to make it to Tokyo 2020. Still, it's a gamble for the two new pairings. All the best to them.
I had a sigh of relief when seeing Zhang Nan could have another partner. Ou Xuanyi is kinda good, really hope they could have success. HKX/LC will mess up everything with their errors I hope they could prove me wrong.
Can't wait for Indonesia Open to come! Minions! Zhang Nan with new partner! Sincerely hoping and willing to throw as many lucky coin to wishing wells for ZN and his new partner to qualify for Tokyo 2020 Jia you!! I think I saw Ou in AO a few days ago. Guess they didn't register Ou/Zhang here because Ou still played with his current partner.
HKX / LC will be the next abomination pair and they get rid of RenXianYu and WZK. smart ass. There will be sacrificial lambs in Doubles. Maybe OuXuanyi can play with HanChengkai. 2 tall players but not as tall as LiLiu ,in future. but i thought Ren is the younger player.. They will get in main seeds in IO but starting from zero again for ZN...But of course ZN/LC has to be separated..think they played for 3 years and only won Fluke WC and DO. Other than that, is the Dubai Final. so no improvements , have to be separated.
Maybe LC can recover from what I'm sure are mental issues. Kinda similar story with Ko Sung Hyun back in the day, although I'd guess LYD was more critical and assertive than ZN. He recovered nicely and was able to make his own mark, both in MD and XD. Maybe LC will be able to get close to that, once expectations drop. Edit: recovered, not recorded
Perhaps just like what Li Yinhui felt when she first partnered up with Zhang Nan, feeling in awe of him and under mostly self-induced pressure to be worthy of him and perform to expectations as soon as possible. I think LYH has been well mentored after initially struggling for quite a while, she is a better women's doubles player now. If I remember correctly,Liu Xuanxuan has also partnered him before briefly; maybe there's another one whose name I don't recall. Anyway, I last came across an article where Zhang Jun explicitly said Zhang Nan is still given the role to mentor the younger players in XD set-ups during the OG cycle.
