Zhang Nan ( 张楠 )

However, now that Zhang Nan has been given a new partner in MD, that has to take top priority - there's little time to lose and they have to hit the ground running, so to speak.

Clearly the task is cut out for the new pairing, it's do or die if OG qualification is uppermost in their minds. Hope Ou Xuanyi can handle the stress, the onus is much more on him than on Zhang Nan to deliver. Their chemistry has to be just right from the get-go or Zhang Nan can say bye-bye to another Olympic dream.

As for Liu Cheng/Huang Kaixiang, well, not much to say except to do whatever they can and hope for the best; I'm not holding my breath for this scratch pair though, to be realistic.

 

Exactly what I think. They have 1 or 2 tournaments where they can lose before the QF round over the entire year, if that, given that theyll probably need to be the second pair from China to qualify (unlikely that Li/Liu will suddenly drop off out of the Top4). Their own, egocentric best chance would be for Li/Liu to either drop in form, have an injury issue or get figured out by a few good pairs, and while certainly do see some possibility for that, I don't think anyone really wants that (no one sane wishes an injury on an athlete and we as spectators basically benefit from all pairs being as good as possible, creates better matches).

As for LC/HKX, I think they have an outside chance of being good, but never going to be a consistent Top5 pair. Ko/Shin are probably a good analogy, although I'd rate Ko higher as a player than LC and HKX is unproven and (to me) a mystery, whereas SBC had a very good track record and some considerable achievements even before he paired Ko. They're probably what this pair can aspire to be, if all goes well.

 

Zhang Nan is registered too in JO with Ou. I am relieved to see that Ou/Zhang ranks points combined is high enough for them to qualify in Super 500+. I supposed they will be playing in Super 300s too from now on?

Their names are in TO main draw too.

 

Zhang Nan has already been perceived as an old guard whose usefulness is to nurture n babysit the youngsters and cause a few problems as a calvary to disrupt the other contenders for the generals to apply the finishing touch. I felt he still has loads to offer as a very all round player who can mix with anyone, any category, all round play n psychologically reliable.

 

is ZhangNan going to play his last tournament with LiuCheng at WorldChamp? I presumed new partner will not be allowed to play at WC.

 

Ou/Zhang managed to get to the QF this tournament and lost to minions. Not too bad for a start.
I can see some potential in Ou to be a better support for ZN than LC, however whether he could step up in time, only time could tell. Being ZN partner means that he would be the "mark" most of the time. His playing style is a bit too quick and all over the place, I could see sometimes ZN having trouble to place himself on the right place. Ou is too eager to rush to all the shuttles coming to their side. At least he is better than LC when it comes to flat exchanges and to intercept at the net.

They started late, about 2-3 months after the qualification period started. Going to be tough to surpass 3 pairs, but it should be doable. It's another and different challenge for ZN, now he has a partner who is a bit too active and too fast compared to the last one. Let's see if ZN would scratch his head in the near future lol

 

I'd say a very active and fast partner is just what he needs, someone to raise the pace of the game so he can vary it more effectively from time to time. Also, someone who can defend worth a damn, because Liu towards the end looked almost like one of us trying to defend. Awkward and caught unprepared, with clumsy racket work. A bit reminiscent of pre-2012 Boe.

 

I guess playing with zhang nan really put some mental pressure on you. liu cheng surprisingly played really well with his new partner even though they still lost to fajar rian in the end.

 

Yeah, as I said, he reminds me a bit of KSH in that regard, probably even a bit more fragile. It's often the case, however, that a sudden lack of expectation leads to a certain overperformance for a while after, let's wait and see where this goes. What I take from this so far is that a) FHF was a deceptively complete player (not praised for much else other than his smash, usually), and b) ZN doesn't seem to be the type to dominate a game on his own, requiring a more even partnership, although I hasten to add he actually did that in their WC run because LC wasn't a Top20 MD player even then. Overall, though, he doesn't seem to inspire his partner overly much - I'd guess he's very tecchnique-/tactic-oriented and doesn't really give inspiring pep-talks