Many Indonesia are afraid of playing in great China region (China, Hong Kong, Macau...). They thought there were too many disadvantages, the number of strong Chinese lineups, fans, judges, lines-persons, ... but reality check, they even won 2 titles in the China open! if we look at more details, just take a look at Markis KIDO and Hendra SETIAWAN, they were very mediocre outside China, Quarter-Finalist at WC, AC, and most others, never won any titles. But for all the China high stars tournaments, 6 star HK open, 6 star China Open, and World cup, they won them all! They were average double players outside China, but in China, they were invincible, and won 15 matches consecutively to grab 6 star titles. Things are always different from what you thought, in bad way, or maybe a good way.
Home crowd does bring advantage, and hostile away gym might be a bit disadvantage. However, I would rather quote their recent success as a hot streak, as all the tournies are pretty much within the past 2 months. It's more related with their recent streak, regardless where it's taken place.
I concur and would also add... ...esp. the no.(or absences) of top MD pairs competing in all those events(ie. from Korea, Denmark)...
markis/hendra defeated the #1 denmark pair (#2 world ranking) in semifinal 21:15, 21:16 and finally they defeated cai/fu 21:16,21:16, they're very convincing, aren't they ?
Oh...yesss from the beginning I have always believed that these young men are very powerful and fast!!!! Watch out Cai/Fu....and All Malaysian Pairs!!! Then my prediction came true...Now meeting Markis/hendra is a nightmare for other MD pairs. Actually, at present markis/hendra can only be defeated by their seniors (Chandra/Tony) ONLY because they have been trained by the same guru. YEAR 2007 will be the year of Markis/Hendra.... They will be Rank 1 very soon
I think Kido and Setiawan have done very well and they're in great form thus far, outshining even Luluk and Alvent. It is not easy to maintain good form throughout and their mental preparedness must be quite thorough. Credit must go to this exciting pair who has found the right formula for now.
You have seriously underestimated Kido/Hendra!! Never won any titles?? They have won the Asian Championships (beating Jung Jae Sung/Lee Jae Jin), Indonesia Open (beating Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto) and the SEA Games gold (beating Chan Choong Ming/Koo Kien Keat in the SF and Luluk/Alvent in the final) last year. That's 3 titles last year. This year, it happens that they win all their three titles in the Greater China region. However, they have a good record in the Indonesia Open and Korea Open, beating some of the top 10 pairs. It's true that they were a bit inconsistent in the first half of this year. But, they have improved tremendously since then, losing only seven matches up to today, to Anthony Clark/Robert Blair (in the All England and World Championships), Tony Gunawan/Candra Wijaya (in the Indonesia Open and Korea Open), Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah (Asian Championships), Hendri Kurniawan Saputra/Hendra Wijaya (Singapore Open), and Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun (World Cup group games). They have beaten almost all the pairs in the top 10 and only have a bad record against Anthony Clark/Robert Blair (I dunno for wat reason) for top 10 pairs. They have perfect records against Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari/Lin Woon Fui, and Gan Teik Chai/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif, which are arguably their top opponents for the next 5-7 years!
You misunderstood me. I was promoting them I also predicted for them inspite of most others against them in this forum's prediction sessions. I meant this year
Markis & Hendra are the new hope....but they've still got lots to learn.. I wouldn't say "convincing", but "surprising"... yes, they've defeated a Danish pair but it was in 1 of the tourney..They've also defeated Fu/Cai in China Open, but then lost last week in the exhibition World Cup against them.. Correct me if i'm wrong, but they haven't yet to face all the full "top tiered" MD pairs in a tourney have they..If they did, most likely they haven't gone far(see World Championship)... actually i was awaiting their rematch against Tony/Candra in the JO, but Markis/Hendra lost before they were able to meet the 2 veterans... Hope both of them will meet again in the not so distant future, as i would like to see the young INA pair finally pull it out.. I'll say this, and maybe i'm expecting too much, but i will only "have confidence" in them, once they can perform consistently over several months or say 1 yr...If they can keep on improving and help the INA squad in next yr's Sudirman Cup and if they can end next yr near the top, then i will "have confidence" them...But at the present moment, i'm being "cautiously optimistic"(if that's the right word, because of what happened with Luluk/Alvent)...
i think having no pressure to win helps too. The MAL MD cracked because the pressure is so great to get a win, not just being a runner up. Cai and fu have to add more variety to their tactic. It's nice to see new blood from INA MD team.
LOL. Muahaha. How come they lost in a tourney they did not even taking part? I do wish PBSI sent them to play more often. *sigh*.
..hehe, true they(Markis & Hendra) didn't compete in the JO, meant to say i wished they had played in the Japan Open(since Tony & Candra were competing as well)...
they're still 21 YO... they can still improve more further i'm sure 2 - 5 years more ,they're going to rule The MD-world, cai/fu, tony/chandra, LWW/CTF may have retired at those years