Well...a few hours from now we will know who is naive or who is smoking what....I voted no fix and both will play to win. It was reported LD would not train with CL as the likelihood of both in the same half was possible and that was before the draw was made, perhaps tells us that it will be an open affair. And I say LD will win and will go to the final, just a guess.
I will choose Lin Dan to win for the following reasons: 1) LCW is on form, LD is getting better and better when tournament progress.. but look at what happen to CL yesterday when he play against DL. First set leading 12-3 but end up winning marginally 21-18 ! second set 10-11 and winning 21-15. It is very rare for CL to have this type of performance, this show that he is getting nervous when tournament progress...Also, CL robot style of playing is predictable.. therefore I guess LYB will not take the risk ... 2) Most of the badminton fans will want to see a rematch of Lee-Lin. This is the reason BWF give a wild card to Lin Dan. Badminton tournament is more commercial now...
I read a Chinese article last week. When China reporters interview CL and ask him what is Lin Dan weaknesses and what is his chance to beat Lin Dan in QF. By then FHF/CY who are sitting near to them (after training) joke with CL and ask him whether he need to make a call to Lin Dan and ask him what is his weaknesses. They also ask reporters to interview LYB to ask him whether allow CL to beat Lin Dan or not....
of course Lin Dan.... since when does Chen Long beat LD in competitive tournaments before or is he even better in any department of LD.... answer : NO.... CL is slower..... lack variety of shots that LD posseses..... so the answer is LD will win
If that's the case, poor Dragon will have to play second fiddle to LD for a long time to come since LD has openly declared he is not retiring.
So happy he has Canada at the top of his list. I'm think gonna start a BC Canada forumers fund to raise the necessary funds to entice him here.
Oh..I am sure he will find warm hospitality and in turn put Canada in the badminton world map for a long time. The mods will scold me for being OT.
A decent response rate in less than 10hours. The poll will be closed sometime between 12noon and 1pm Guangzhou time.
CL will win. LD already showed sign of losing in yesterday's match, e.g. Poor diving save, slow speed... etc
Ah heck! I pick retirement with injury. Makes practical sense. It offers the perfect out for an (-other?) extended "leave of absence" Besides, that column needs a little more support...
BREAKING NEWS : CL injured his left hand last finger - unable to hold the shuttle to serve. Withdrew. LD lost his favourite pair of socks. Withdrew. No match. The winner of TMN vs JOJ will progress to the final.