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
Ok, sorry but this maybe off topic and waaay tooo late to mention but this involves zhang nan. I just watched a very old video of the london olympics gold medal match, and i noticed that at the championship point, the clear of Ma Jin was very much IN but it was called out 51:16(?) Has anyone noticed this?
Ou/Zhang is playing He/Tan tomorrow, and if they manage to get pass this match they might face minions again in R2. Honestly after watching them in person in Japan Open last week, I am honestly not that optimistic with Ou but I hope he could prove me wrong. It will be though for ZN to carry this partnership now just less a year before the Olympics. Still mad at the coaches for not doing anything until it was too late. As in Basel ZN will again with LC. I guess they will have time to prepare after Thailand Open for 2 weeks. It is quite maddening how they treat ZN as a leftover..
Ou/Zhang will play in both Super 100 Hyderabad Open and Akita Masters before playing with LC in the WC. And of course LC will play with his new partner too in those two tournaments. As their last performance together as a pair, I wonder how Liu/Zhang will do in Basel.
Obviously, both Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan's priorities are not the Basel WC but with their respective new partnerships for the OG QF cycle to garner as much ranking points as possible in the shortest possible time. Their participation as a pair in the upcoming WC will be their last and more of a formality; of course, if they manage to win it against all odds, it's a huge bonus, nothing to lose, everything to gain. Just make sure to avoid any injury.
At this point Liu Cheng is already looking past Tokio is he has any semblance of intelligence and a sense of reality. There's no way he's gonna make it, and it's looking very very unlikely for Zhang as well.
Yeah, bitterly I agree with ZN's chance to OT. Judging from their performances in the tournaments so far it will be quite impossible to qualify for Tokyo. Seems it will take quite sometime before the partnership to show its fullest potential. Ou has the potential but he is a bit too 'raw' for ZN to polish in a short time. Probably we might be able to see them kicking some arses in WC 2021.
Ou/Zhang lost R2 in Hyderabad Open last week in 3 games. There was no streaming at all unfortunately so I had no idea how they did. All I know that the pair that beat them went to the final but lost. Anyway, Ou/Zhang won today 21-13, 22-20. Wow the match must have been tough, I got to watch their match today and I could only laugh watching the replay. Their opponent today was far from decent, Ou/Zhang should have won it comfortably but how could it go to 22-20. In G2 they were leading all the time, ZN was too strong for the opponents and Ou was doing so well too plus the opponents made easy mistakes themselves. There was a disruption at 14-9, the umpire called the referee for some technical malfunction on his panel. After several minutes the match was resumed, and for some reason Ou just went off boil and lost his focus entirely, mistakes after mistakes letting the opponents to get as close as 20-17 eek. I was surprised that ZN didn't scratch his head at all haha. But ZN got relaxed a bit too fast, as soon as they had 3 match points, ZN lost the first two Well things didn't go well with the CHN at the last match point so 20-20 lol. Then ZN took charge and they won the next two points with no sweat. Well, I guess Ou still needs to work on maintaining his focus and concentration at all time. Had no idea how he lost it completely after just a short distraction. I could see ZN talking to his partner between rallies though, maybe trying to calm him down. Looks like a very different character with LC in many ways from the outside.
Ou/Zhang to the final Akita Masters tomorrow. LC lost in the SF today though. Considering that Liu/Zhang will play in BWC in 2 days after the finals tomorrow..
Zhang's fitness status is almost irrelevant to this pair's chances. He can't very well sprint all over the court and take every single shot anyway.... :>
Ou/Zhang won Akita Masters! Congrats to their first world tour title. Though it's only S100. Time for ZN to fly to Switzerland. All the best.
