The Indians are hunting like a pack in MS. Wish Ajay Jayaram and Prannoy were also there. Sameer Verma, KS and Praneeth making it to pre quarters. Kashyap is injured i guess and dunno where RMV has disappeared. I assume he must be injured. Gopichand had said 3 years back that his MS players should started beating top players from next couple of years. I had thought it to be a bit of exaggeration but not many more. Great MS bench strength. I expect praneeth to excel one more round against HCV today. Dream tournament he is having. During PBL, Aparna Popat was commenting and she said, out of all the MS lot in India, Sai Praneeth is the naturally most gifted player. He just didnt get his due at the International level. Guess he got it today. Should do great to his confidence.
I watched the match between LCW and Sai Praneeth last night and can say positively that LCW wasn't at 100%. I'd say that he was probably at about 70% engine power and was actually giving away points like candies with many uncharacteristic errors. If one was playing last night, one couldn't be exceedingly excited nor put it down as a night to remember in all fairness. The real endorsement I reckon would be how one could advance from here by beating other "in-form" players.
It's just the case of a stronger era now. LCW is really feeling it now. Anyway, nice to see RI defeat Sun Yu again!
Lin Dan's first real test this year will be against Chen Long in a couple of rounds (in the semis I think). Will be interesting to see how that match goes. Chen Long should win it, but it's a bit strange playing a team-mate. Also, Chen Long will likely be under instructions to let Lin Dan win in order to get Lin Dan's ranking up to the critical number 2 in the world, thus preventing an earlier clash at the Olympics later this year.
but its not illegal , not special when its the same country men facing each others . Which sometimes the outcome is decided by the coach for the sake of the country.
I would say badminton has become more diverse in national. Stronger? Definitely as in all sports, needless to say, as it must evolve with advance technologies, equipment and training methods. However, by the same reasoning, it does seem to contradict the theory when pre-2012 greats such as Lin Dan & Lee Chong Wei, who have aged considerably and thus "past their prime" understandably, could still win major tournaments today. What gives? So maybe the "stronger era" statement needs a rethink - more "competitive era" instead as a case where the old guards are slowing down and the ROW is catching up faster? But a more peculiar phenomenon is that badminton has gained unprecedented popularity in many nations particularly in India. Many Indian fans have come out of the woodwork with a new sense of pride, confidence and hope. They see themselves and their future in many of these players and hence their unyielding support and distaste for anyone who stands in the way - particularly China. I can't figure out why yet? This is most interesting as they have made the sport more nationalistic that ever that's for sure.
Well, I guess they care enough to send their A-team to participate in AE. ROW needs China more than China needs ROW in badminton. Welcome to the real and un-hypocritical world. Other powerhouse like Korea, Indonesia or Japan would do likewise I reckon.
It is: If a player loses intentionally, he risks serious consequences. Especially after the debacle in the WD at the last Olympics, BWF is very commited to avoiding such a sham; note the somewhat recent addition of BWF III.1A A6 §4.4 which penalizes retiring against a player from the same country.
Chong Wei gets ‘easy’ draw for next month’s All-England This was the headline of a malaysian daily last month when draw was released . It was really funny to see how far they are taking other players as granted. Initially Kashyap was his first round opponent. Meanwhile Kashyap was injured and Praneeth was promoted to main draw and upset happened. If Kashyap was there in Sai praneeth's place, .....?
Praneeth should also be an easy win for any Top10 player. Not blaming it on that, but playing so late most certainly didnt help LCW....and maybe his training is designed to achieve his peak at the OG with a weaker level now...? Who knows