Hey, but he's wrong on the only difficult one. On the other hand, I predicted PSH to win. Although instead of losing the 1st game, Park only lost the 1st half game.
Okay...time to post some thoughts. I only watched 3 matches today, having skipped the Women's Singles and Doubles matches. The first match of the day was the Men's Doubles Final. There was nothing to be ashamed of for Candra Wijaya/Nova Widianto to lose to the in-form pair Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae. The Korean pair collected their 3rd titles this year and has turned into a hot favorite for the Olympics Gold Medal. They have certainly improved a lot under the guidance of former Olympics winner, Ha Tae Kwon. Their defense was simply unbelievable and they were quick to pounce on any loose returns by the INA pair. This was evident in the second set when they were quick to level up when they faced 2-3 pts deficit at 2-5 and then 6-9. It was so damaging when the INA pair was leading 16-15, only to see the Korean won 5 quick pts in a short-period of time and it was all over for Nova/Candra. Nova was okay in front of the net, but, he again had the tendency to make simple errors. Candra also had a few smashes that were long and out. Overall, they did well this week and this loss was expected. They will certainly do well to be INA's no 3 MD pair in the Thomas Cup and are almost certain to be fielded against New Zealand with the preparation of another match against Korean or Malaysian no 2 MD pair in the QF. Their win over Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man yesterday will certainly be a morale booster for Team INA and the coaches.
The second match was the Men's Singles. I would have thought that Chen Jin would have beaten Park Sung Hwan quite easily, since he was free of any qualification worries. How wrong I was, as he did not appear to be excited, even when he was leading in the first set, only to see the lead overturned in the late stage and he eventually lost 18-21. The second set was even worse as Park Sung Hwan was ahead 10-3 and then 11-6 at the interval. The lead extended to 19-11, mostly through simple errors by Chen Jin. He definitely looked sluggish and wanted the match to end early It was only at 19-11 that we began to see some actions. Chen Jin clawed back 8 straight pts and almost levelled the score at 18-19. Unfortunately for him, Park won the last 2 points and the Korean collapsed to the ground in jubilation after winning the title! Surprisingly, this Badminton Asia Championships title represents Park Sung Hwan's First GP Title No wonder he was so emotional at the end! Unbelievable it might seem...but his last title was the JPGG Surabaya Satellite 2005.
That's pretty much explain why he ran back to the podium for photo taking session with his korean official. Just in case if you guys didnt watch the match, the prize giving ceremony wasnt taken at the podium!!!
The last match of the day was the Mixed Doubles, an all-Indonesian Final. It was certainly an anti-climax as Nova Widianto was almost at walking pace in this match. Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa won it 21-17, 21-19 and this will be their 5th GP titles as a pair (Japan Open 2006; Singapore and French SS 2007; Chinese Taipei Open GP Gold 2007; and another SEA Games Individual Gold 2007). Overall, it was mission accomplished for INA Mixed Doubles pairs, especially having beaten 2 Chinese pairs: Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen (and thereby ensuring they won't go to Beijing) and He Hanbin/Yu Yang (the new kids on the block). This will be a major morale booster for Team INA before the Beijing Olympics and a big blow to Team China, with their top pair Zheng Bo/Gao Ling losing unexpectedly in the first round to Fang Chieh-Min/Cheng Wen-Hsing. This year's Badminton Asia Championships is certainly the most competitive in years, especially in the Men's Singles and Mixed Doubles. 16 out of 20 top MS players were in Johor this week (including all Asian players, with the exception of one Taufik Hidayat), while ALL top Asian XD pairs were there. Meanwhile, only the top 2 MD pairs (Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan and Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun), and 1 additional Chinese pair (Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen) were absent. Similarly, only 2 Chinese WD pairs (Wei Yili/Zhang Yawen and Du Jing/Yu Yang) and one Japanese pair (Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota) were absent. The major absentees were in WS, where the top Chinese and Korean players chose not to compete.
I didn't predict others. I only got time to carefully watch one of CJ's match and one of PSH's match in this tournament. Anything I said about the other four matches would be "wishful thinking" instead of prediction.
Actually Candra/nova has not practiced together at all....Nova found it quite awkward to play MD.....Flandy said that Nova should stop playing XD and concentrate playing MD instead jokingly....
It was a good tournament for me to watch even if I only managed the semis and finals. My work schedule too busy. Luckily I can escape from work in the weekend. Didn't even manage to PAW. Sorry to my PAW team. According to Loh, they were disappointed. Next time, I promise to at least participate.
Well hcyong will have to squeeze in some time for the TC/UC in Jakarta come May and the Beijing Olympics come August! These two items are in my "Bucket List".
Future Steve "The Australia Crocodile Hunter" Irwin??... ..who is this kid???... ..And how did his picture end up in this thread(page 3)??... ...Is he the next, Steve Irwin??..
