Heard on news too. So Msia gets its first AE champ in 37 years. CH has so far been unable to beat Hafiz in last 4 meetings.
in that case, congrats to hafiz (and misbun too lest he feel left out)! he's probably got a style of play that give Chen Hong lots of problems. still, hats off to Chen Hong who came through one of the toughtest possible draws as well as the expectations of being the no 1 seed. while it might have been tougher had be met people like gade and taufik, many of his matches went to three sets. also, he's the first person in my recent memory who managed to make it to 3 consecutive all england finals. that's no mean feat in today's game. congrats to the both of them
I happened to be watching an old tape of 1996 Ae. I think Hafiz plays a bit like Poul Erik Hoyer Larsen and can hit some sharp angles to troble CH. Don't see many players with such strokes nowadays.
Hafiz quietly made it through the ranks without any fanfare and he had to beat several seeds along the way including 13* Sony Dwi KUNCORO, 6* Anders BOESEN, and 1* CHEN Hong. Lucky (maybe), Yong Hock Kin took out Wong Choong Hann, the 2nd seed. Hafiz is still very young. This might be the event which will give him the confidence and change his game. Hafiz is now the champion of the oldest and most prestigious tournament (excluding the world championships and Olympics). Ron
WD: GAO Ling & HUANG Sui bt. YANG Wei & ZHANG Jiewen. China has 3 titles, Indonesia 1, and Malaysia 1. China has also 4 runners-up and Korea 1. This All-England goes to China. If China has a competitive Men's Doubles, the Sudirman Cup is China's. As is, others have long shots in defeating China and Korea probably has the best chance of doing so (IMO). Ron
Managed to catch a clip of Hafiz vs Chen Hong on news.TV msia must have paid a hefty ransom for the clip. Looked more liked a doubles match suiting people like Tony Gunawan or Kim Dong Moon, Chen Hong seems to be relatively weak in the short serve and drive game as evident when he played Gade in last Sudirman Cup and World Championships. At least he can still work on it.
Hafiz has admitted when interviewed that he knows Chen Hong's game quite well and has a fairly good idea how to play him. Now that's sth fr Ch to think about. A whole 15 mins of prime news time was devoted to his victory but not much was about the game he played.Some quarters have asked fr him to be amply rewarded whilst some more level headed ones have cautioned against spoiling him. Now everyone will be analysing his game as they did on Ch and Xia etc. Another Ji Xin Pen or Dong Jiong?
Hafiz seems to be a humble sort and I hope the BAM doesn't screw him up with the politics. The BAM might destroy the best potential it has had in a long time with the politiking. Ron
Only if Ra plays for Korea in the Suridman Cup. With her playing, Korea has a better chance of upsetting China in WD and beating China in XD.
Agreed, only if Ha Tae Kwon/Kim Dong Moon (especially Kim for doubles and mixed doubles), Ra Kyung Min/Lee Kyung Won (especially Ra for mixed doubles), and Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min get to play. If Kim and Ra are injured, Korea has almost no chance. Korea will need to win all 3 doubles or Men's doubles and one other double and steal a point in Men's Singles. This is still a long shot, but Denmark is out of form and Indonesia does not have the women's team to compete with China. Denmark might get 2 points if lucky (the Chinese might actually beat Denmark in men's doubles), but I don't see Denmark beating China. Indonesia will win in men's doubles and maybe (stretching it quite a bit) men's singles but will win no women or mixed ties against China. England and Thailand have no chance against China -- zero, none, zip. The Chinese third string can beat these 2 countries easily. Ron
Hi, I must admit, the English have no chance. BUT, i do feel we are catching up with them. At the all England, Clark and Robertson gave Candra and Sigit (my fav pair!) something to worry about, only to lose the last game 15-1! Peter Jeffery and Julian Robertson were good also, a nice solid pairing with alot of power. But the Asians (at the time, Trikus and Halim) just coped with it, and all us from Europe, simply dont have the artistry. Yes, the Asians fluent strokes, movement round the court, do make it look like an Art, and if we wish to be successful, we need to implement the training programmes over here. But as we all know, that simply is not going to happen. Matt
hmm - don't know, Nathan Robertson is taking shape in the mixed, him and Gail are a force to be reckoned with. Hopefully his improvement due to moving to Denmark will not be cancelled out by the less time he spends training with Gail - he has matured a lot as a player since he played with Julian Robertson in the mens a few years ago - having children has matured him - and it shows in his game. It is well known that Nathan can't stand the NIA as well so i don't begrudge him a poor performance - roll on the the Swiss Open Neil
not sure on the exact age but i'd agree with you on his career - i think he may be Simon Archers age maybe older. Neil